Sorting a spreadsheet s/b easy

[Guest]

I am trying to sort a 5 column spreadsheet by column A (date) then column B (invoice #) sounds easy
This spreadsheet was emailed to me from a company downloa
It will not sort in an asending order nor can I change the format of the date column

Any suggestions? Is there something I can do so I can see if the column is format protected? Or something like that
Thank you
Carol

 

[Frank Kabel]

Hi Carol
the dates are probably stored as text. Try the following
- format the date column as date
- select an empty cell and copy this cell (with CTRL+C)
- now select your date column
- Goto 'Edit - Paste Special' and choose the action 'add'

--
Regards
Frank Kabel
Frankfurt, Germany

I am trying to sort a 5 column spreadsheet by column A (date) then

column B (invoice #) sounds easy.

This spreadsheet was emailed to me from a company download
It will not sort in an asending order nor can I change the format of the date column.

Any suggestions? Is there something I can do so I can see if the

column is format protected? Or something like that?

 

[Guest]

Thank you Frank. This worked, but the original column which I formated as date, did not show as the format that I changed it to. But I was able to sort after I copied to the new column

Thank you very much

 

[RagDyer]

That's maybe because the *empty* cell you copied was formatted as "General".

Next time you try this, use an empty cell *from* the column you formatted as
date, where you chose your particular date format.
OR
Format the *empty* cell *before* you copy it to the exact date format that
you prefer.
--

HTH,

RD
==============================================
Please keep all correspondence within the Group, so all may benefit!
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Thank you Frank. This worked, but the original column which I formated as
date, did not show as the format that I changed it to. But I was able to
sort after I copied to the new column.

Thank you very much