Sorting Dates by Month, Take Two

In a previous ExcelTips I included a tip about how to sort dates by month in a particular column. Since Excel maintains dates internally based on a serial number, sorting by the month of the year can be bothersome. Besides the approaches outlined in the above-noted tip, there is an additional way you can approach the problem. This involves actually converting the dates into text (instead of the internal serial numbers), as follows:

1. Select the cells that contain the dates.
2. Choose Cells from the Format menu. Excel displays the Format Cells dialog box.
3. Make sure the Number tab is selected. (Click here to see a related figure.)
4. In the list of Categories, choose Date.
5. In the list of Types, choose March 14, 1998.
6. Click on OK. Your cells should now be formatted to show a long date with the month first.
7. Press Ctrl+C. This copies the cells to the Clipboard.
8. Open Notepad.
9. Press Ctrl+V. The information is now pasted into Notepad, and should still be the long dates.
10. Select the information just pasted into Notepad.
11. Press Ctrl+C. This copies the information to the Clipboard.
12. Switch back to Excel.
13. Choose Cells from the Format menu. Excel displays the Format Cells dialog box.
14. Make sure the Number tab is selected.
15. In the list of Categories, choose Text.
16. Click on OK.
17. Press Ctrl+V.

Your dates are now pasted into Excel as true text entries, not as dates. This allows you to easily sort the information according to the month in the date.