How do i sort excel text cells by date modified

I don't beleve this can be done directly.  I have never suspected that
Excel maintains a modification time for each cell.  I could be wrong.

You may need to maintain your own modification time cells in parallel
with your text cells, then sort both using the modification row/column
as key.

To my knowledge, it can't be done.

Excel does not track this information.  The save date relates to the
entire file, not cells.

Sorry, I take that back.  It does appear to record the dates for cells
(when last changed), however, when you go to Data > Sort, it provides
no options to sort by that date.

Same answer, I guess.  Just wanted to clarify.

There is a way to do this. If your spreadsheet is a "shared workbook"
then you can track the changes that were made to it.
I'm using Excel 2000. Under the "Tools" menu, select "Share Workbook".
When the sub window pops open check mark the box next to "Allow
changes by more than one user at the same time."
Now you can save the file and make alterations/additions all the live
long day. When you want to list the "date modififed" go to the "Tools"
menu again and select "Track Changes > Highlight Changes". On the pop
up menu checkmark the box next to "List changes on a new sheet."
(Also, de-select the box that is checked next to "When".) You should
now have a new sheet that lists every change that has been made to the
sheet. This includes additions and deletions as well as when and who
did them. It is automatically in filter mode so you can pinpoint all
the transactions for a single cell.
While this isn't an exact sort method, it does give you a list that
you can use an HLOOKUP on and from that you could resort your original
data.
Hope this helps.

You'll need to convert the dates to numbers that Excel can then
recognize as dates. If you can give me examples of their formatting, I
could likely provide the best method to accomplish that. Otherwise,
you can try inserting a few columns to the right of your date column,
select your date column, and choose Data-Text to columns and follow
the settings for a date...