Hi,

In excel dates are numbers and the number 35269 is 23 July 1996 so
formatting this number as a date should get you to where you want to be.

Mike

"Annette" wrote:

I am pulling data out of a student information system in a txt format, then
open it in Excel to format each field as necessary to submit to a testing
center for data purposes. The birthdate comes out as (for example) as
7/23/1996; once it's opened in Excel I use the Format Cells function to
change it to 072396 per the testing center's parameters. When I validate the
spreadsheet, the value changes to 35269. What do I need to do differently to
have the value remain 072396 after validation?