Why are you using Value2? Try using this...

Range("Start_Date").Value

Or, you can format the date value from Value2 yourself....

Format(Range("Start_Date").Value2, "m/d/yyyy")

--
Rick (MVP - Excel)


"greg" wrote in message
...
OK,
this must be an easy one.
I have a named cell. Start_date
The cell is formated as date. with a date value 7/1/2010
when trying to get the cell value I do not get the date
range("start_date").Value2
It comes out:
40360

so must be something easy.
anyone have an answer?
thanks