If after sorting a range of dates, their order is incorrect, chances are that some of the dates are not being seen by ClarisWorks in a valid date format. Here's a way for you to easily spot the ones needing changing.
Select the column with your dates by clicking on its column header, the letter at its top. Now under the Calculate menu, select Insert Cells... This will insert a new temporary column to the left of your dates. (Be sure the format of the column is General)
Let's say your dates are now in column C and you have a new blank column, B. In cell B1, write the formula =C1 and press Enter. Click on the B (the column header) and under Calculate, select Fill Down...
Cells with numbers like 32745 are next to valid dates. Any others will need to be re-entered. Tip: do NOT use leading zeros: 05/02/93 is not a valid date.
When the dates have been fixed, select and delete the extra column (Delete Cells... under the Calculate menu) and Sort once again.
Other Considerations:
In ClarisWorks 1.0, dates can be entered into and sorted within the Database and Spreadsheet environments. The Database sorts dates properly. When entering into the Spreadsheet environment, dates are entered in mm/dd/yy format. Dates which fall on or after 1/1/1911 use an assumed '19' before the date. Dates which fall on or before 12/31/1910 use an assumed '20.'.
This means that when dates which fall after the year 2010 are entered into a ClarisWorks spreadsheet, they are not always accurately represented by the software. If you try to sort based upon three date values, 6/2/92, 9/1/27 and 8/1/99, the 9/1/27 (2027) date will sort first because ClarisWorks thinks it's 1927. (If a date format is selected which represents the information as m/d/yyyy, the 27 date will appear as 1927.)
If you try to work around this by entering your date as mm/dd/yyyy (2/4/2027), ClarisWorks treats the entered date as a text value.
There are two workarounds which will sort properly:
Enter the date as mm/dd/yyyy (February 4, 2027).
Use the Date function and enter the date as Date(2027,2,4). Remember to format as a date since the value returned from this calculation will be a number.
NOTE: Once ClarisWorks has recognized that the date is 2027 instead of 1927, it retains it internally. Therefore, if you want to display a date which reads 2/4/27 and sorts properly, you can enter it using one of the workarounds listed above, then select the mm/dd/yy format from the Number Format dialog. Note that two dates may display the same value but store very different internal data.