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Fix dates stored as text

When dates arrive as text, sorting puts April before March, filters don’t work and date maths returns errors. Mixed formats make it worse: one column with 03/14/2026, another with “Mar 20, 2026”.

Each column is read as dates in whatever format it uses. US and UK order is decided from the values themselves — a 14 in the first position settles it. If the whole file could be read both ways, you get one question with a preview of both readings, not a silent guess.

Drop files here

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XLSX, XLS, CSV, TXT, PDF · up to 25 MB · 1 file without an account

Or try a sample:

Example: before and after

“03/14/2026” and “Mar 20, 2026” are now real dates in two date columns; the empty “Paid on” cell stays empty.

Beforeinvoices.csv
1InvoiceIssuedPaid onAmount
2INV-88103/14/2026Mar 20, 2026420.00
3INV-88203/15/2026Apr 2, 20261150.00
4INV-88303/18/2026 75.25
5INV-88403/21/2026Apr 10, 2026300.00
After4 rows
InvoiceIssuedPaid onAmount
INV-88103/14/202603/20/2026420.00
INV-88203/15/202604/02/20261,150.00
INV-88303/18/202675.25
INV-88403/21/202604/10/2026300.00

How to do it

  1. 1Drop the file with the text dates.
  2. 2If the day/month order is ambiguous, pick it once — both readings are shown side by side.
  3. 3Download: XLSX keeps real dates, CSV writes them in the style you choose.

Questions

How do you tell 03/04/2026 apart — 3 April or 4 March?
From the rest of the column and the file: any value with a day above 12 decides it. If nothing decides it, you’re asked once for the whole table, with a preview of both readings.
Which date formats are recognised?
MM/DD/YYYY, DD/MM/YYYY, YYYY-MM-DD, DD.MM.YYYY, “Mar 3, 2026”, “3 March 2026”, “03-Mar-26”, Excel date serials and ISO timestamps with time zones.
What happens to values that aren’t dates?
They stay exactly as they were and the cell is highlighted, so you can fix it by hand. Nothing is turned into a made-up date.

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