Assume your date is in A1. In B1, enter this formula:

=ISTEXT(A1)
If you get TRUE as a result, than your date is no real Excel dat, but is text.
In that case, enter the formula I suggested.
In both cases, FormatCellsNumber tab, choose Date, and choose a format from the list that suits your needs.

If no such format is in the list:

FormatCellsNumber tab, choose Custom. In the Type box, enter "yyyy/dd/mm" (without the quotes)

BTW, what do you see if you format the cell as General?

--
Kind regards,

Niek Otten
Microsoft MVP - Excel


"Greenback" wrote in message ...
| Niek,thanks for the reply, but I am unsure of what you mean (not an expert on
| excel at all)...can you clarify?...thanks
|
| "Niek Otten" wrote:
|
| Maybe they aren't real Excel dates, but text. You can check with the ISTEXT() function.
| If they a
|
| =DATE(RIGHT(A1,2)+2000,LEFT(A1,2),MID(A1,4,2))
| and format as required
|
| --
| Kind regards,
|
| Niek Otten
| Microsoft MVP - Excel
|
| "Greenback" wrote in message ...
| |I have a spreadsheet sent to me and it has a column of dates in the following
| | format - mm/dd/yy
| | I would like to change them to yyyy/dd/mm but I can't seem to change
| | existing format. Any ideas on how this is done?
|
|
|