I have one cell that for some reason even though the format is set to
general, when i put in say 2007-2011 i get a pop up box that says date
format error. the issue is that this is the only cell in the entire
column with this issue.

this is a file exported out of SAP to Excel with VBA code in the
background. then we insert two columns next to a date column. so the
new columns are picking up that format. what i don't understand is why
when i change the format the top cell still doesn't work.

any ideas?