I have Text in a Colunm but want to sort ...

[Dr. Darrell]

I have a column which was filled in with text:

Q3-09
Q4-10
Q1-11
Q2-09

Where the Text means:

3rd Quarter 2009
4th Quarter 2010
1st Quarter 2011
2nd Quarter 2009

I would like to sort in ascending order:

Q2-09
Q3-09
Q4-10
Q1-11

Is there an easy way to sort this column, (there are several thousand
entries).

Darrell

 

[Jacob Skaria]

--Insert a column near by.
--Say you have the quater in ColA. In col B cellB2 enter the below formula
and copy down as required and format col B to date..

=DATEVALUE("01-"&MID(A2,2,6))

--Select ColA and ColB.
--Sort ColB in Ascending order.

If this post helps click Yes

 

[Luke M]

Create a helper column witht his formula:

=RIGHT(A2,2)&MID(A2,2,1)
Copy down as needed, then sort on the helper column.

 

[Jim Thomlinson]

Create a list of all possible values something like this...

Q1 - 09
Q2 - 09
Q3 - 09
Q4 - 09
Q1 - 10
Q2 - 10
Q3 - 10
Q4 - 10
Q1 - 11
Q2 - 11
Q3 - 11
Q4 - 11

Now Select Tools -> Options |Custom Lists and there is an option to import
these values as a list. Once you have that cusotm list you can sort based on
it's order.

Select the range to be sorted. Select Data -> Sort -> Options | Change from
normal to your custom list.

 

[Dr. Darrell]

Thank you, that works nicely.

--Insert a column near by.
--Say you have the quater in ColA. In col B cellB2 enter the below formula
and copy down as required and format col B to date..

=DATEVALUE("01-"&MID(A2,2,6))

--Select ColA and ColB.
--Sort ColB in Ascending order.

If this post helps click Yes