Hi Neil

as "december" typed into a cell isn't a "date" rather text you'll need to
use either autocorrect to change it to Dec - however, this will affect every
entry of December into any workbook or word document OR use a
worksheet_change event

Private Sub Worksheet_Change(ByVal Target As Range)
If Target.Value = "December" Then Target.Value = "Dec"
End Sub

to use this, right mouse click on the sheet tab that you want this to happen
to and choose view code
now copy & paste this into the area on the right of the screen.
use ALT & F11 to switch back to your workbook to test.

Cheers
JulieD




"Neil" wrote in message
...
Can anyone help me with a small problem I have with Date Fomatting?

I have an Excel based application where people need type the name of a
month
into a cell, the only problem is that the cell isn't big enough to show
the
entire month name for the longer months. I want to try to add some sort of
formatting so that if 'December' is entered for instance the cell is
automatically truncated to 'Dec'.
I can't seem to find anywhere in the formatting menu that solves this
problem, does anyone have a solution they could offer?

Thanks

Neil