This is a know bug. Workaround:
In a blank cell in worksheet enter the date you want to use as a scale limit
Format this General (you will get a 5-digit number like 40199)
Type this number in the Format Axis dialog

The good news: it is fixed in Excel 2010
best wishes
--
Bernard Liengme
Microsoft Excel MVP
http://people.stfx.ca/bliengme


"MarkG" wrote in message
...
I am attempting to enter a date to set the Min and/or Max value in the
Axis
Options in a Line Chart. This is for the Vertical Axis.
When I enter a date ex 1/18/10 or 1/18/2010 in the Axis Options in a Line
Chart on the vertical axis, the value reverts to the original date code
40181.0 which is 1/3/10.
I used to be able to enter a date here and it would convert it. How Can
I
get this to do it. Am I entering the information wrong.
My older version of excel (2002) I could even enter just the month and day
if I wanted the current year. ex 1/18 would have been sufficient and the
information was converted to the date number.

Does anyone know of a for sure fix yet??? SP2 did NOT fix this!
Thanks for any assistance!
Mark