The TEXT function should work. Did you try it like this:

=TEXT(A1,"yyyymmdd")

HTH,
Elkar


"maryj" wrote:

Client has dates with custom format yyyymmdd. She needs the date to show in
that format but not be a date anymore. For example, the custom format
displays the date as 20061006 but she needs this value to display exactly
like this but no longer be a date. Everything I've tried keeps reading the
value as the serial number rather than literally what is displayed. I've
tried the text function, left and mid and right, and text to columns. Any
other suggestions??
--
maryj