Excel not recognizing date formats

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lj_99_99 - 05 Dec 2007 17:39 GMT

I'm having a problem with a particular spreadsheet. Some of the cells have
dates, typed in MM/DD/YY format, but Excel isn't recognizing it as a date. It
won't change the date format (to MM/DD/YYYY) or sort these dates along with
other "normal" date cells.

I can't seem to figure out what's the problem with these particular cells.
When I type a random number like 123 into the cell, it converts it to a date
format, but I want it to recognize 1/23/06 as a date and it doesn't.

Anyone have any idea of what's going on? It works fine for SOME cells in the
spreadsheet, and I have no issues when creating a new Excel file. The
document in question was e-mailed to me, so I'm not sure how it was generated
(but I assumed it was just typed manually).

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Peo Sjoblom - 05 Dec 2007 17:48 GMT

Look if you have anything under tools>transition, if so clear the
checkmark(s)

Signature

Regards,

Peo Sjoblom

> I'm having a problem with a particular spreadsheet. Some of the cells have
> dates, typed in MM/DD/YY format, but Excel isn't recognizing it as a date.
[quoted text clipped - 14 lines]
> generated
> (but I assumed it was just typed manually).

Reply to this Message

lj_99_99 - 05 Dec 2007 21:56 GMT

I should've clarified that I'm using Excel 2007, so there is no Tools menu.

But I think I've figured out the problem anyway: the date that was in that
cell(2/29/06) didn't exist, since February is a shorter month and there was
no Feb 29th last year. That was why Excel didn't recognize it as a date. I
thought the problem was with particular cells, but it turns out the problem
was just with particular (non-existent) dates, and once I changed the date to
something else it worked fine.

Thanks for taking the time to reply!

> Look if you have anything under tools>transition, if so clear the
> checkmark(s)
[quoted text clipped - 17 lines]
> > generated
> > (but I assumed it was just typed manually).

Reply to this Message

Dave Peterson - 05 Dec 2007 23:51 GMT

I bet that option is hidden under the Office Button (top left corner), then
Excel Options (near the bottom).

> I should've clarified that I'm using Excel 2007, so there is no Tools menu.
>
[quoted text clipped - 34 lines]
> > > generated
> > > (but I assumed it was just typed manually).

Signature

Dave Peterson

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