Please Note: This article is written for users of the following Microsoft Excel versions: 97, 2000, 2002, and 2003. If you are using a later version (Excel 2007 or later), this tip may not work for you. For a version of this tip written specifically for later versions of Excel, click here: Use Filenames that Sort Properly.
Written by Allen Wyatt (last updated July 18, 2020)
This tip applies to Excel 97, 2000, 2002, and 2003
It is not uncommon to work on projects that require several workbooks. When you are naming files for your project, you should use names which will later sort properly when you use various functions of Excel. For instance, the Open dialog box shows the files in the current directory. If your files are named properly, they will always appear in order on the list.
I ensure this by starting all files related to a project with a number of digits that represent the order in which the workbook appears in the project. For instance, if the project entails workbooks from the last quarter of 2012 and the first quarter of 2013, then the files may be named as follows:
201210 Actual Figures.xlsx 201211 Actual Figures.xlsx 201212 Actual Figures.xlsx 201301 Actual Figures.xlsx 201302 Actual Figures.xlsx 201303 Actual Figures.xlsx
The files sort properly because they begin with the year. If they began with the month, then the first quarter of 2013 would sort before the last quarter of 2012, which is not nearly as helpful an order.
ExcelTips is your source for cost-effective Microsoft Excel training. This tip (2233) applies to Microsoft Excel 97, 2000, 2002, and 2003. You can find a version of this tip for the ribbon interface of Excel (Excel 2007 and later) here: Use Filenames that Sort Properly.
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Please Note:
This article is written for users of the following Microsoft Excel versions: 97, 2000, 2002, and 2003. If you are using a later version (Excel 2007 or later), this tip may not work for you. For a version of this tip written specifically for later versions of Excel, click here:
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