How do I convert the text "Oct-14" to date, so that it's being read as "Oct 01, 2014. I tried to go to Format > Date and selected the format: Oct-2014, but google sheets is interpreting it as "Oct 14, 2016". I just need the month and year (Oct-2014).
Here's the sample spreadsheet: I need help with columns B and C.
You can use
=datevalue("01-"&B2)
(single-cell formula that can be copied down), or
=arrayformula(datevalue("01-"&B2:B))
(converts an entire column at once), or
=arrayformula(iferror(datevalue("01-"&B2:B)))
(does the same, while suppressing any error messages).
This works because the strings like 01-Oct-14 are understood by datevalue command correctly, at least in your locale.