How do I convert date columns in an excel report?
There is a known issue where date columns in an excel report are displayed in text/general format instead of date format. This article describes a work around to convert the columns from text to date.
Selecting the data column
First, you will need to select the entire column containing the date values that you wish to sort by. You can accomplish this by selecting the first row in the column (not the column header) and using the “Shift + Ctrl + ↓ (the down arrow button)” on your keyboard. Note that if the column contains blank row values, the button combination will stop highlighting at the first blank row. If this happens, while still holding “Shift + Ctrl”, just continue hitting the “↓ (the down arrow button)” until you reach the end of the column.
Formatting the data
After the whole column (minus the header row) is highlighted, navigate to the “Data” tab and click on the “Text to Columns” icon.
On the first page of the dialog window that pops up, you will want to make sure that the “Delimited” radio option is selected and then click next.
On the next page, you will want to uncheck any of the checkboxes that are already checked and then click next.
On the last page, you will want to set the “Column data format” radio button to “Date” making sure the option in the drop-down box is set to “MDY”. Finally, on this page you will want to click “Finish”.
Now, when you go to sort the column, you will be give the sort the column by “Oldest to Newest” or “Newest to Oldest” instead of “A-Z” or ”Z-A”.
