sj,

It couldn't have. Dates worked the same in Excel97 as in more recent
versions. It's seeing 010305 as the number 10,305, which is the date-serial
number for the date 3/18/28. You must use some kind of date separator for
it to see it as 01/03/05. Consider the add-in that Bob suggested. It will
allow entry as you want, and will convert it to the intended date.

--
Earl Kiosterud
mvpearl omitthisword at verizon period net
-------------------------------------------

"sj" wrote in message
...
my client says this worked in Office 97 and he formatted the cells to be
date
and then just entered numbers like 010505 and it set the formatting
correctly-any other idea?

"sj" wrote:

enter date 010305 and the date changes to 3/18/28 very strange and can be
repeated. Is there a fix for this? Running excel 2003, 11.6113.5703