Strange Date Format Bug

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Shiva - 31 Aug 2006 06:12 GMT

Hi all,

I don't know which subtopic this belongs to.

Each time I work with dates in Excel 2003 on my machine, the date,
regardless of the format, becomes a number.

For e.g. When I type the date 1/1/2006, the Formula Bar shows me,
1/1/2006, but the column actually shows "38718". A different number for
each date.

I've tried all Date formats in regional settings, nothing works.

Can anyone help?

Best wishes,
Shiva

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Pete_UK - 31 Aug 2006 09:11 GMT

You should format the cell (or column) - Format | Cells | Number (tab)
and choose Date, then you will be given different styles that you can
choose from - pick one and click OK.

Hope this helps.

Pete

> Hi all,
>
[quoted text clipped - 13 lines]
> Best wishes,
> Shiva

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Gord Dibben - 31 Aug 2006 17:00 GMT

Not so strange once you understand how Excel stores dates.

See Chip Pearson's site for details.

http://www.cpearson.com/excel/datetime.htm#SerialDates

>Hi all,
>
[quoted text clipped - 13 lines]
>Best wishes,
>Shiva

Gord Dibben MS Excel MVP

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Stephen Bye - 31 Aug 2006 21:21 GMT

Try going to Tools | Options and unchecking 'Formulas'.
Or press Ctrl + `

> Hi all,
>
[quoted text clipped - 13 lines]
> Best wishes,
> Shiva

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