How do we Sort dates in Excel?

[Guest]

I have a columns with dates in Excel 2003 and I want to sort them by Year,
but it does not seem to be happening. Am I missing something?

Thanks,

 

[Bob Phillips]

As long as they are numeric dates, it should be fine. They are not text
dates by chance?

--
HTH

Bob

(there's no email, no snail mail, but somewhere should be gmail in my addy)

 

[Guest]

You could use a helper column with =YEAR(A1) copied down and do the primary
sort on that column.

Vaya con Dios,
Chuck, CABGx3

 

[Guest]

No, they are not set to Text.

Thanks,

As long as they are numeric dates, it should be fine. They are not text
dates by chance?

--
HTH

Bob

(there's no email, no snail mail, but somewhere should be gmail in my addy)

 

[Guest]

That sounds great, but I dont want that helper column showing since it will
not make sense.

 

[Peo Sjoblom]

Delete it after you are done sorting. Regardless Excel sorts dates by year,
then month and finally day. What do you get if you use

=ISNUMBER(A1)

where A1 is a date that won't sort by year

 

[Gord Dibben]

Just because they are not formatted to Text does not mean they aren't text.

Try Data>Text to Columns>Next>Next>Column Data Format>Date.

Select a format and see what happens.


Gord Dibben MS Excel MVP