Hi,
if you want to convert to text enter the formula as follow

=TEXT(A6,"dd-mmm-yyyy")

in my example your date is in cell A6, change it to fit your needs

if this helps please click yes, thanks

"Urs" wrote:

I have a pre-populated date field, and have attempted to reformat it to text,
and when I do I get a random number instead of my date.

My date field starts as:
21-Dec-1999
and when I change the FORMAT to TEXT, the content now appears as follows:
36515 (on the left side of the cell)

clearly this field is not staying "exactly as you typed it"

Why is this happening and what can I do?
Thanks!