5 Ways To Group By Month In Excel

Working with dates in Excel can be a bit tricky, but there are several ways to group data by month. Whether you're analyzing sales data, website traffic, or any other type of data that involves dates, being able to group by month can be incredibly useful. In this article, we'll explore five different methods for grouping data by month in Excel.

Method 1: Using the GROUP BY Function

One of the easiest ways to group data by month is by using the GROUP BY function in Excel. This function is available in Excel 2016 and later versions. To use this function, follow these steps:

Select the data range that you want to group.
Go to the "Data" tab in the ribbon.
Click on the "Group" button in the "Outline" group.
Select "Group by Month" from the dropdown menu.
Choose the date column that you want to group by.

Excel will automatically group your data by month, and you'll see a new column with the month names.

Example:

Suppose you have a dataset with sales data for each day of the year, and you want to group it by month. Your data might look like this:

Date	Sales
2022-01-01	100
2022-01-02	120
2022-01-03	150
...	...

After using the GROUP BY function, your data would be grouped by month, like this:

Month	Sales
January	1000
February	1200
March	1500
...	...

Method 2: Using PivotTables

Another way to group data by month is by using PivotTables. PivotTables are a powerful tool in Excel that allow you to summarize and analyze large datasets. To use a PivotTable to group data by month, follow these steps:

Select the data range that you want to group.
Go to the "Insert" tab in the ribbon.
Click on the "PivotTable" button in the "Tables" group.
Select a cell where you want to place the PivotTable.
Drag the date column to the "Row Labels" area.
Right-click on the date column and select "Group".
Select "Months" from the dropdown menu.

Your PivotTable will now be grouped by month, and you'll see a new column with the month names.

Example:

Suppose you have a dataset with sales data for each day of the year, and you want to group it by month. Your data might look like this:

Date	Sales
2022-01-01	100
2022-01-02	120
2022-01-03	150
...	...

After creating a PivotTable and grouping by month, your data would look like this:

Month	Sales
January	1000
February	1200
March	1500
...	...

Method 3: Using the TEXT Function

You can also use the TEXT function in Excel to group data by month. The TEXT function converts a date to a text string in a specific format. To use the TEXT function to group data by month, follow these steps:

Select the cell where you want to display the month name.
Type the following formula: =TEXT(A1,"MMMM")
Press Enter.

This formula will convert the date in cell A1 to a text string in the format "MMMM", which displays the full month name.

Example:

Suppose you have a dataset with sales data for each day of the year, and you want to group it by month. Your data might look like this:

Date	Sales
2022-01-01	100
2022-01-02	120
2022-01-03	150
...	...

After using the TEXT function to convert the dates to month names, your data would look like this:

Month	Sales
January	100
January	120
January	150
...	...

Method 4: Using the MONTH Function

Another way to group data by month is by using the MONTH function in Excel. The MONTH function returns the month of a date as a number. To use the MONTH function to group data by month, follow these steps:

Select the cell where you want to display the month number.
Type the following formula: =MONTH(A1)
Press Enter.

This formula will return the month number of the date in cell A1.

Example:

Suppose you have a dataset with sales data for each day of the year, and you want to group it by month. Your data might look like this:

Date	Sales
2022-01-01	100
2022-01-02	120
2022-01-03	150
...	...

After using the MONTH function to extract the month numbers, your data would look like this:

Month	Sales
1	100
1	120
1	150
...	...

Method 5: Using VBA Macros

Finally, you can also use VBA macros to group data by month in Excel. VBA macros are a powerful tool that allow you to automate tasks and perform complex operations. To use a VBA macro to group data by month, follow these steps:

Open the Visual Basic Editor by pressing Alt+F11.
Insert a new module by clicking "Insert" > "Module".
Paste the following code:

Sub GroupByMonth()
  Dim rng As Range
  Dim cel As Range
  Dim month As String
  
  Set rng = Selection
  
  For Each cel In rng
    month = Format(cel.Value, "MMMM")
    cel.Offset(0, 1).Value = month
  Next cel
End Sub

Run the macro by clicking "Run" > "GroupByMonth".

This macro will group your data by month and display the month names in a new column.

Example:

Suppose you have a dataset with sales data for each day of the year, and you want to group it by month. Your data might look like this:

Date	Sales
2022-01-01	100
2022-01-02	120
2022-01-03	150
...	...

After running the VBA macro, your data would look like this:

Month	Sales
January	100
January	120
January	150
...	...

We hope this article has helped you learn how to group data by month in Excel. Whether you're using the GROUP BY function, PivotTables, the TEXT function, the MONTH function, or VBA macros, there's a method that's right for you.