Sub SortNumberedList()
' Paul Beverley - Version 03.07.12
' Sort references, ignoring the number at the beginning

numChars = 20
myDelimiter = " "
' If it's a tab, use...
' myDelimiter = Chr(9)

For Each myPara In ActiveDocument.Paragraphs
  If Len(myPara.Range.Text) > numChars Then
    myPara.Range.Select
    firstChars = Left(myPara.Range.Text, numChars)
    firstChars = Right(firstChars, Len(firstChars) - InStr(firstChars, myDelimiter))
    Selection.InsertBefore Text:="xx" & firstChars & "yy"
  End If
Next myPara

Selection.WholeStory
Selection.Sort ExcludeHeader:=False, FieldNumber:="Paragraphs", _
     SortOrder:=wdSortOrderAscending, SortFieldType:=wdSortFieldAlphanumeric
Set rng = ActiveDocument.Content
With rng.Find
  .ClearFormatting
  .Replacement.ClearFormatting
  .Text = "xx*yy"
  .Wrap = wdFindContinue
  .Replacement.Text = ""
  .Forward = True
  .MatchWildcards = True
  .Execute Replace:=wdReplaceAll
End With
End Sub