Sort by date - just not getting it all the way there
 

Hi,

I am having a nightmare of a time trying to sort a date column in a
spreadsheet. The column is made up of dates as shown below and the dates
will sort in descending order all the way out to the year due to some kind
of limitation. Here is my column:

9/28/2005
9/28/2004
9/27/2005
9/27/2004
9/26/2005
9/26/2004

See what I mean??? I want it to look like this:

9/28/2005
9/27/2005
9/26/2005
9/28/2004
9/27/2004
9/26/2004

Thanks. :-)

--
Spin

Sort by date - just not getting it all the way there
 

Your "dates" are sorting like they're text....which means...those values are
text, not dates.

Try this:

Select an empty cell.
EditCopy

Select your range of values
EditPaste Special
Check: Add
Check: Values
Click the [OK] button

That should convert your text-that-looks-like-dates into actual dates.

Now try sorting them

Does that help?

***********
Regards,
Ron

XL2002, WinXP-Pro


"Spin" wrote:

Hi,

I am having a nightmare of a time trying to sort a date column in a
spreadsheet. The column is made up of dates as shown below and the dates
will sort in descending order all the way out to the year due to some kind
of limitation. Here is my column:

9/28/2005
9/28/2004
9/27/2005
9/27/2004
9/26/2005
9/26/2004

See what I mean??? I want it to look like this:

9/28/2005
9/27/2005
9/26/2005
9/28/2004
9/27/2004
9/26/2004

Thanks. :-)

--
Spin

Sort by date - just not getting it all the way there
 

It looks to me as though your entries are formatted as text. Your
example is a proper descending sort of text entries.

To properly sort dates, your cells must be formatted as dates. Or, to
be more precise, numbers, but formatted as dates so you can read them
properly.

Sort by date - just not getting it all the way there
 

You're getting the results of a *Text* sort, meaning your dates are*not*
true XL dates, but simply text representations of dates.

To correct this situation, you must convert them to XL readable dates
*before* you perform the sort.

Select your column of 'dates', then:

<Data <Text To Columns <Next <Next,
Under "Column Data Format",
Click in "Date",
And make sure "MDY" is showing in the box.
Then <Finish.

NOW ... try your sorting!
--
HTH,

RD
==============================================
Please keep all correspondence within the Group, so all may benefit!
==============================================





"Spin" wrote in message
...
Hi,

I am having a nightmare of a time trying to sort a date column in a
spreadsheet. The column is made up of dates as shown below and the dates
will sort in descending order all the way out to the year due to some kind
of limitation. Here is my column:

9/28/2005
9/28/2004
9/27/2005
9/27/2004
9/26/2005
9/26/2004

See what I mean??? I want it to look like this:

9/28/2005
9/27/2005
9/26/2005
9/28/2004
9/27/2004
9/26/2004

Thanks. :-)

--
Spin