Word: How sort by date with incomplete dates (eg year only)?

Word 2007:
I'm constantly creating chronologies where some of the dates are just "May
2003" or even just "2003". When I sort by date, such things are moved to the
front as if they are not dates at all. Is there some way it can be made to
work (possibly involving formatting of dates such as "0.0.2003" or "0.5.2003"
(d/m/y order, UnAmerican I know, but I'm not American).

I haven't tried it in Word 2007, but in previous versions, if you tell Word
to sort by date, it sorts mixed dates perfectly well. It will indeed sort
2003 to the top of all other 2003 dates and May 2003 to the top of all other
dates in May 2003, but what else would you have it do?

--
Suzanne S. Barnhill
Microsoft MVP (Word)
Words into Type
Fairhope, Alabama USA
Word MVP FAQ site: http://word.mvps.org
Email cannot be acknowledged; please post all follow-ups to the newsgroup so
all may benefit.

"The Horse" wrote in message
...
Word 2007:
I'm constantly creating chronologies where some of the dates are just "May
2003" or even just "2003". When I sort by date, such things are moved to
the
front as if they are not dates at all. Is there some way it can be made
to
work (possibly involving formatting of dates such as "0.0.2003" or
"0.5.2003"
(d/m/y order, UnAmerican I know, but I'm not American).

Thanks, but it sorts ALL the just-year dates to the top (and doesn't
recognise them as dates, which is shown by offering "number" as the basis for
sorting next time you sort by the "dates" column), then sorts the full dates
(which it does recognise).

"Suzanne S. Barnhill" wrote:

I haven't tried it in Word 2007, but in previous versions, if you tell Word
to sort by date, it sorts mixed dates perfectly well. It will indeed sort
2003 to the top of all other 2003 dates and May 2003 to the top of all other
dates in May 2003, but what else would you have it do?

--
Suzanne S. Barnhill
Microsoft MVP (Word)
Words into Type
Fairhope, Alabama USA
Word MVP FAQ site: http://word.mvps.org
Email cannot be acknowledged; please post all follow-ups to the newsgroup so
all may benefit.

"The Horse" wrote in message
...
Word 2007:
I'm constantly creating chronologies where some of the dates are just "May
2003" or even just "2003". When I sort by date, such things are moved to
the
front as if they are not dates at all. Is there some way it can be made
to
work (possibly involving formatting of dates such as "0.0.2003" or
"0.5.2003"
(d/m/y order, UnAmerican I know, but I'm not American).

Now that you mention it, I think I did have to use 1/1/2003 or the like. You
can always format the 1/1/ as white; Word will still see it.

--
Suzanne S. Barnhill
Microsoft MVP (Word)
Words into Type
Fairhope, Alabama USA
Word MVP FAQ site: http://word.mvps.org
Email cannot be acknowledged; please post all follow-ups to the newsgroup so
all may benefit.

"The Horse" wrote in message
...
Thanks, but it sorts ALL the just-year dates to the top (and doesn't
recognise them as dates, which is shown by offering "number" as the basis
for
sorting next time you sort by the "dates" column), then sorts the full
dates
(which it does recognise).

"Suzanne S. Barnhill" wrote:

I haven't tried it in Word 2007, but in previous versions, if you tell
Word
to sort by date, it sorts mixed dates perfectly well. It will indeed
sort
2003 to the top of all other 2003 dates and May 2003 to the top of all
other
dates in May 2003, but what else would you have it do?

--
Suzanne S. Barnhill
Microsoft MVP (Word)
Words into Type
Fairhope, Alabama USA
Word MVP FAQ site: http://word.mvps.org
Email cannot be acknowledged; please post all follow-ups to the
newsgroup so
all may benefit.

"The Horse" wrote in message
...
Word 2007:
I'm constantly creating chronologies where some of the dates are just
"May
2003" or even just "2003". When I sort by date, such things are moved
to
the
front as if they are not dates at all. Is there some way it can be
made
to
work (possibly involving formatting of dates such as "0.0.2003" or
"0.5.2003"
(d/m/y order, UnAmerican I know, but I'm not American).

YYYYMMDD always sorts correctly (unless you have to deal with different
calendars and so on), so is a good working format, but falls down on the
display/readability front. It depnds on which is more important.

Peter Jamieson
"The Horse" wrote in message
...
Word 2007:
I'm constantly creating chronologies where some of the dates are just "May
2003" or even just "2003". When I sort by date, such things are moved to
the
front as if they are not dates at all. Is there some way it can be made
to
work (possibly involving formatting of dates such as "0.0.2003" or
"0.5.2003"
(d/m/y order, UnAmerican I know, but I'm not American).