In xl2003 menus, try:

Tools|Options|Transition tab
Uncheck all those Lotus 123 settings.

Excel is seeing your entry as
3 divided by 17 divided by 2008.

A very small number that would be on Jan 1, 1900 when you format it as a date.

Desoto wrote:

I have inherited a worksheet constructed by someone else and need to load
dates in a column of cells. Unfortunately when a date of "3/17/2008" is
entered into the cell range it displays January 1, 1900. If the cell range
is formated to "Date Format" it continues to display January 1, 1900. Can
someone please tell me what I am missing here?

Thanks in advance?
Desoto

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Dave Peterson