Hi LAS,

Sorting dates in Excel is a common task, and it's easy to do once you know how. It sounds like you were on the right track before, but somehow the options for sorting oldest to newest and newest to oldest disappeared. Here's how to get them back:

1. Highlight the column of dates that you want to sort.
2. Click on the "Data" tab in the ribbon at the top of the screen.
3. Click on the "Sort" button in the "Sort & Filter" section.
4. In the "Sort" dialog box that appears, make sure that the "Sort by" dropdown menu is set to the column that contains your dates.
5. In the "Order" dropdown menu, select "Oldest to Newest" or "Newest to Oldest" as desired.
6. Click "OK" to sort your data.

If you still don't see the options for sorting oldest to newest and newest to oldest, it's possible that your Excel settings have been changed. To fix this, you can go to the "File" tab, click on "Options," and then select "Advanced." Look for the "Editing options" section and make sure that the "Enable fill handle and cell drag-and-drop" option is checked. This should restore the missing sort options.