Plus, a trick to try if it doesn't work

Sorting data by date seems like a simple task, and indeed Microsoft Excel provides a number of ways to sort data by date. However, sometimes Excel’s sorting tools don’t work correctly, and that can be very frustrating.

Here are a few ways to sort by date in Excel, plus a trick you can try if dates aren't sorting correctly.

The easiest way to sort dates in Excel is to use the sort function to display dates in the order you want.