Thread: How to sort Date column 56 when = to 55 and formatted to display only month name

My column 55 holds birthdates and formatted as 1-9-12.
My column 56 equals column 55, and is formatted to only show month . . . January etc.

I've tried sorting column 56 and it will not sort this column, as I think that it is caused by using date data from column 55.

I don't want to use a macro if I don't have to.

Any ideas?

It doesn't matter how you format it, it's still a date.

Try: =TEXT(BC2,"mmmm") and copy down.

Regards, TMS

When I enter your formula into column 56, I get #NAME?

I don't think your formula will pickup the value from column 55, which it has to do, as I still need column 55 to exist.

The solution may only be by running a macro whenever we need to use that column.

Perhaps try changing the comma to a semicolon?

Column BC is column 55.

Regards

No . . . I get a formula error.

Thanks for telling me what the BC was. I know better, but currently I am using numbeers rather than alpha and I just didn't think

Post the workbook. I can't keep guessing at what it might be.

Thanks . . . I've been gone again.

Attached is workbook.

I have explained on worksheet what I need.

I only used 2 columns in my example, but I have many more in my database

Thanks again

No workbook ...

If Mohammed will not go to the mountain, the mountain must come to Mohammed ...

See attached example.

Regards, TMS

Please see below attachment sample.

I apologize for forgetting to attach my sample workbook. It certainly wasn't intentional. Again, I've been gone for a few days and couldn't reply sooner. At my age ( 80 ), every second is very valuable and you wouldn't believe all the activities that I am involved in. Most people think that I am in my early 60's at most.

God is very good to me and I love him very much for all he does. I believe that I have to work for him in return.

Thanks TM


SortProblem.xls

Without seeing a real example of the data, I'm unsure of the significance of the blank rows.

However, If you just want to see the rows with birthdays in a particular month, you could use Autofilter ... which is what I have used to select the month.

Just select all the data from row 11 (the header row) down to the end of your data. Then choose Autofilter form the menu.

If you're using Excel 2003, select Data | Filter | Autofilter.

If you want to sort the data by month, you'd need to use a Custom Sort. Again, select all the data from (and including) row 11 to the end of the data. Now sort the data, indicating that you have a header row and choosing options. Click on the drop down box and choose the list of months. Click OK a couple of times to sort by month.

That said, there's not much point sorting the data (and potentially getting it out of sequence) if you only want to see the rows with a specific month.

See teh attached example.

Regards, TMS

Well, I took your suggestions and ended up with the formula . . . =IF(BC12="","",TEXT(BC12,"mmmm"))

I used my own sorting method and it works perfectly. I will mark as solved.

Many thanks for the help and suggestions.

I'll mark it solved.