How to Sort by Date in Google Sheets

To sort by date in Google Sheets, follow these steps:

1. Open your Google Sheets document.
2. Click on the column header (the letter) that contains the dates you want to sort. This will select the entire column.
3. Click on "Data" in the menu bar at the top of the screen.
4. Hover your cursor over "Sort sheet by column A-Z" (or the appropriate column letter) to expand the sorting options.
5. If your dates are formatted correctly, select either "Sort sheet A-Z" to sort in ascending order (earliest to latest) or "Sort sheet Z-A" to sort in descending order (latest to earliest).

If your dates are not formatted correctly, you may need to reformat them before sorting. To do this:

1. Select the cells containing the dates.
2. Click on "Format" in the menu bar at the top of the screen.
3. Hover your cursor over "Number" to expand the formatting options.
4. Choose the appropriate date format from the list (e.g., "Date" or "Date time").

Example

Let's say you have a Google Sheet with the following data:

A          B
1  Date       Item
2  2021-06-01  Apples
3  2021-06-04  Bananas
4  2021-06-02  Grapes

You want to sort the data by the dates in column A. Here's how you would do it:

1. Click on the column header "A" to select the entire column.
2. Click on "Data" in the menu bar at the top of the screen.
3. Hover your cursor over "Sort sheet by column A-Z" to expand the sorting options.
4. Select "Sort sheet A-Z" to sort in ascending order (earliest to latest).

The sorted sheet will now look like this:

A          B
1  Date       Item
2  2021-06-01  Apples
3  2021-06-02  Grapes
4  2021-06-04  Bananas

If the dates were not formatted correctly, you would need to reformat them before sorting, as described in the instructions above.