Sorting by date

[Lopsie96]

Hi,

I have exported a file as a CSV that includes dates and other information. Upon export, the dates are not in chronological order and I cannot seem to get them sorted into chronological order. I don't know what I am doing wrong. I also do believe that the dates are stored as text but can't seem to understand how to get them converted to date format even though I have highlighted the column and formatted as a date. Can someone help??

 

[joshman108]

In a separate column, you can use the DATE function to convert the text value to a date format (you will need to parse it out from the text, let me know if you need help - include sample data from your workbook). You should then be able to sort on this new date column.

 

[MARK858]

Try selecting the column, click "Data" tab - click "Text To Columns" - select "Delimited" and click "Next", make sure "Other" is not checked and click "Next", select General and click "Finish"

There is a date option at the last stage if your date needs further adjustment rather than just the General option (only specifying General to start with as you sometimes have to use the reverse m/d to what you think depending on your region and you haven't stated what your date format is).

 

[Joe4]

I also do believe that the dates are stored as text but can't seem to understand how to get them converted to date format even though I have highlighted the column and formatted as a date.

Changing the format of a column of existing data will not convert the data, it just changes the format of the data (and date and other custom formats only apply to numeric data, not text data).

If the date column is already in a format which can be converted to a valid date, then you can simply select that column, go to the Data menu and select "Text to Columns", go to step 3 and choose the Date option with the proper date format, and click Finish. That will convert the Text entries to valid Dates.

If that does not work, please post a few sample of what these date entries look like.

 

[Lopsie96]

Thanks so much for your help! I got it!!

 

[Joe4]

You are welcome.
Glad we were able to help!