Sorting Dates in Excel 2007

This issue has perplexed me off and on for the past two years! I am documenting the solution here in this Blog more for myself than anyone else. I must have spent a whole hour researching this issue, VLOOKUP, DBA, all kinds of solutions but not quite the one I was looking for.

Issue: Sorting on dates not working correctly because the sort key would be based on the month digit as text instead of a number. i.e. 1/1/2010 would be followed by 1/2/2008
Solution: Tell the sort to treat the dates as numbers instead of text.

Implementation:
We assume that the data has column headers and at least one column with dates.
Note: There are several ways to accomplish this, so whatever works for you, but this is how I do it.

Make sure that data filtering is active.

• Home tab > Editing Box > Sort & Filter > Filter

Now that filtering is on, sort data based on the date column.

• Home tab > Editing Box > Sort & Filter > Custom Sort

In the dialog box that pops up asking for the sort key or sort order.

• Sort by "Dates Column"; Sort on "Values"; Order "A to Z"

Here is where we get to the crux of the data sort by selecting the appropriate option on the next dialog box.

• Sort Warning Dialog Box pops up.
• Asks what you would like to do because your column header has text, but the column also has "date" values.
  

Always select "Sort anything that looks like a number, as a number".

Eia la! Our data is sorted and ready for manipulation.

Happy Times!

Walgreens Email List Hacked!

Sad news. I received the following from Walgreens today:

December 10, 2010

Dear Valued Customer,

We recently became aware of unauthorized access to an email list of customers who receive special offers and newsletters from us. As a result, it is possible you may have received some spam email messages asking you to go to another site and enter personal data. We are sorry this has taken place and for any inconvenience to you.

We want to assure you that the only information that was obtained was your email address. Your prescription information, account and any other personally identifiable information were not at risk because such data is not contained in the email system, and no access was gained to Walgreens consumer data systems.

As a company, we absolutely believe that all customer relationships must be built on trust. That is why we believe it is important to inform you of this incident. Online security experts have reported an increase in attacks on email systems, and therefore we have voluntarily contacted the appropriate authorities and are working with them regarding this incident.

We encourage you to continue to be aware of increasingly common email scams that may use your email address to contact you and ask for personal or sensitive information. Always be cautious when opening links or attachments from unsolicited third parties. Also know that Walgreens will not send you emails asking for your credit card number, social security number or other personally identifiable information. So if ever asked for this information, you can be confident it is not from Walgreens.

If you have any questions regarding this issue, please contact us at 1-888-980-0963. We take your privacy very seriously, and we will continue to work diligently to protect your personal information.

Sincerely,

Walgreens Customer Service Team