title: What does "sort anything that looks like a number as a number" actually mean?
body: <p>This has been bugging me for years. What does the Excel "sort anything that looks like a number as a number" actually mean?</p>
  
  <p>When I try to sort in Excel a column consisting mainly of numbers, I get the message:</p>
  
  <pre><code>Sort Warning: 
  The following sort key may not sort as expected
  because it contains some numbers formatted as text: 
  DateValue
  
  What would you like to do?
  
  () Sort anything that looks like a number, as a number 
  () Sort numbers and numbers stored as text separately
  </code></pre>
  
  <p>Can anyone explain exactly what the difference is between these two options?</p>