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Excel can display a date-looking value while storing it as text.

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Then a sort may behave like A to Z rather than oldest to newest.

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In our fictional five-order workbook, the order dated October twentieth,

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twenty twenty-five should come first.

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We will prove the storage type, convert only the copied practice

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column, and verify every order ID after sorting.

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Open the Orders sheet in the practice workbook.

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Column B holds five imported U.S.

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date strings, column C holds the amounts, and columns D and

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E are blank for your work.

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Do not retype the source dates.

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Keep the order IDs beside their amounts when sorting so the records remain intact.

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In a spare cell, enter equals ISNUMBER open parenthesis B two close parenthesis.

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It should return FALSE for the supplied text date.

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This is a better test than alignment or date formatting.

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A format change can make a cell look different without converting its stored value.

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Leave the original B column untouched so you can compare it

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with the converted result.

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Select D two and enter equals DATEVALUE open parenthesis B two close parenthesis.

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Microsoft documents DATEVALUE for converting text dates to date serial numbers. In a U.S.

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date setting, the first result represents February fifteenth, twenty twenty-six.

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If you see a serial number, apply a Date number format

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to D two; that changes the display of the converted number,

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not the underlying value.

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Fill the D two formula through D six and format D

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two through D six as dates.

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In E two, enter equals ISNUMBER open parenthesis D two close

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parenthesis and fill through E six.

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All five checks should read TRUE.

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If DATEVALUE returns a value error, stop and check the workbook's U.S.

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month slash day date text against your Excel regional settings before sorting.

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Select the entire table A one through E six, including headers.

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Sort by Converted date from oldest to newest.

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Do not select only column D, because that would detach each

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date from its order ID and amount.

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The first three records should be ORD-304, ORD-302, and ORD-303,

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followed by ORD-301 and ORD-305.

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Compare the final ID order with the independent answer check: ORD-304,

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ORD-302, ORD-303, ORD-301, ORD-305.

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The associated amounts should be sixty, eighty, two hundred fifteen, one

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hundred twenty-five, and one hundred fifty-five dollars, still totaling six hundred thirty-five.

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All converted-date checks should remain TRUE.

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This confirms both date order and record integrity in the fictional exercise.