You can't accomplish what you are asking just by changing the cell format.
All a format does is change how the data is displayed. It does not change
the actual data in the cell. Therefore, the sort would still be performed on
the full date.

To do what you are asking you will have to create 2 other columns and use
the MONTH function in 1 and the YEAR function in the other. You can then
sort on these 2 columns in order to meet your requirement.

"lcardwell" wrote:

I would like to sort dates in a spreadsheet by month and day - not year. How
can I change the format to avoid the year being used while sorting?