One way might be to just exploit the DV "weakness"?

Type into an adjacent cell: tbd

Copy the cell, and do a
Paste special Values OK
on the cell with the data validation

--
Rgds
Max
xl 97
---
Please respond in thread
xdemechanik <atyahoo<dotcom
----
"Jim Johnson" wrote in message
...
Is there a way to create a validation rule that is used 90% of the time
and
also to specify an exception for the other 10%? If I had a field that was
intended to display a date and set up my validation for the date, could I
then create an exception that would allow me to type "tbd" for those dates
that have yet to be determined?