PURPOSE: To enable high speed retrieval by providing a sorting means for sorting plural stored data items corresponding to specified sorting conditions and a display means for displaying a sorted result.

CONSTITUTION: When a stored data sorting option specification parameter is inputted from a keyboard 25 on a client side, the stored data sorting option specification parameter is outputted on a communication channel 7 by a central operation processor 23. Which option specification is the option outputted on the communication channel 7 is discriminated by the central operation processor 13 of a server machine 1. The stored data are sorted by adjusting to an address data base when the option is data transmission originating address specification or by adjusting to a subject key word data base when the option is data subject key word specification by the central operation processor 13 of the server machine 1. Then, the respective sorted results are displayed at the display device 26 of a client machine 2.