I'm using Excel 2000 on a Vista desktop and on an XP laptop. I'm finding
that cell formatting will not work any more. For example, if I try to apply
date or custom date formatting to a cell containing '8/6/08', the cell is
not formatted as a date. The only possible thing that I can think of is
that I was trialling OpenOffice and initially I thought that the problem was
limited to Excel files that I had opened in OpenOffice. But I'm now finding
that the problem exists in new files created in Excel that have never been
opened in OpenOffice.

Can anyone help? I've never had this problem before.

--
Lindsay Graham
Canberra, Australia
---------------------------------------------
Please reply only to the newsgroup so that all may benefit.

Try formatting the cell as a date, but then reenter the date.

Changing the format of a cell won't change the value in that cell. And I'm
guessing that the value in that cell is really text--not really a date.



Lindsay Graham wrote:

I'm using Excel 2000 on a Vista desktop and on an XP laptop. I'm finding
that cell formatting will not work any more. For example, if I try to apply
date or custom date formatting to a cell containing '8/6/08', the cell is
not formatted as a date. The only possible thing that I can think of is
that I was trialling OpenOffice and initially I thought that the problem was
limited to Excel files that I had opened in OpenOffice. But I'm now finding
that the problem exists in new files created in Excel that have never been
opened in OpenOffice.

Can anyone help? I've never had this problem before.

--
Lindsay Graham
Canberra, Australia
---------------------------------------------
Please reply only to the newsgroup so that all may benefit.

--

Dave Peterson

This problem usually means the "date" is text.

Try DataText to ColumnsNextNextColumn Data FormatDate. Pick a format of
DMY or MDY depending upon your short date settings in Windows.


Gord Dibben MS Excel MVP

On Mon, 9 Jun 2008 00:48:45 +1000, "Lindsay Graham"
wrote:

I'm using Excel 2000 on a Vista desktop and on an XP laptop. I'm finding
that cell formatting will not work any more. For example, if I try to apply
date or custom date formatting to a cell containing '8/6/08', the cell is
not formatted as a date. The only possible thing that I can think of is
that I was trialling OpenOffice and initially I thought that the problem was
limited to Excel files that I had opened in OpenOffice. But I'm now finding
that the problem exists in new files created in Excel that have never been
opened in OpenOffice.

Can anyone help? I've never had this problem before.

Hi Lindsay,

I assume as have others that the dates are really text - so
1. Click an empty cell and choose Copy
2. Select all the date cell and choose Edit, Paste Special, Add
3. Then apply a date formatting of your choosing.

Cheers,
Shane Devenshire
Microsoft Excel MVP
Join http://setiathome.berkeley.edu/ and download a free screensaver and
help search for life beyond earth.

"Lindsay Graham" wrote in message
...
I'm using Excel 2000 on a Vista desktop and on an XP laptop. I'm finding
that cell formatting will not work any more. For example, if I try to
apply date or custom date formatting to a cell containing '8/6/08', the
cell is not formatted as a date. The only possible thing that I can think
of is that I was trialling OpenOffice and initially I thought that the
problem was limited to Excel files that I had opened in OpenOffice. But
I'm now finding that the problem exists in new files created in Excel that
have never been opened in OpenOffice.

Can anyone help? I've never had this problem before.

--
Lindsay Graham
Canberra, Australia
---------------------------------------------
Please reply only to the newsgroup so that all may benefit.

Thank you, Dave, Gord and Shane. I'm sure you're right and the cells are
formatted as text. However, I've tried each method that you have suggested,
and nothing helps. The date formatting is still not applied.

My preferred custom format is 'd/m/yy_)' but I've tried several standard
date formats as well. I'm really stumped.

Any other ideas out there?

--
Lindsay Graham
Canberra, Australia
---------------------------------------------
Please reply only to the list/newsgroup so that all may benefit.

"Shane Devenshire" wrote in message
...
Hi Lindsay,

I assume as have others that the dates are really text - so
1. Click an empty cell and choose Copy
2. Select all the date cell and choose Edit, Paste Special, Add
3. Then apply a date formatting of your choosing.

Cheers,
Shane Devenshire
Microsoft Excel MVP
Join http://setiathome.berkeley.edu/ and download a free screensaver and
help search for life beyond earth.

"Lindsay Graham" wrote in message
...
I'm using Excel 2000 on a Vista desktop and on an XP laptop. I'm finding
that cell formatting will not work any more. For example, if I try to
apply date or custom date formatting to a cell containing '8/6/08', the
cell is not formatted as a date. The only possible thing that I can
think of is that I was trialling OpenOffice and initially I thought that
the problem was limited to Excel files that I had opened in OpenOffice.
But I'm now finding that the problem exists in new files created in Excel
that have never been opened in OpenOffice.

Can anyone help? I've never had this problem before.

--
Lindsay Graham
Canberra, Australia
---------------------------------------------
Please reply only to the newsgroup so that all may benefit.

An additional point that may help someone resolve my problem.

With cells where I have entered a date but have not tried to apply any
format, the format (R click on the cell Format Cells... Number tab)
appears as General (ie, no specific number format).

With cells where I have applied a format, it appears as, for example,
'Custom' 'd/m/y_)'. Although this is what would be expected, the date
format is not present -- the cell cannot be used in formulae and will not
sort correctly as a date.

Does this suggest anything to anyone?

--
Lindsay Graham
Canberra, Australia
---------------------------------------------
Please reply only to the list/newsgroup so that all may benefit.

"Lindsay Graham" wrote in message
...
Thank you, Dave, Gord and Shane. I'm sure you're right and the cells are
formatted as text. However, I've tried each method that you have
suggested, and nothing helps. The date formatting is still not applied.

My preferred custom format is 'd/m/yy_)' but I've tried several standard
date formats as well. I'm really stumped.

Any other ideas out there?

--
Lindsay Graham
Canberra, Australia
---------------------------------------------
Please reply only to the list/newsgroup so that all may benefit.

"Shane Devenshire" wrote in message
...
Hi Lindsay,

I assume as have others that the dates are really text - so
1. Click an empty cell and choose Copy
2. Select all the date cell and choose Edit, Paste Special, Add
3. Then apply a date formatting of your choosing.

Cheers,
Shane Devenshire
Microsoft Excel MVP
Join http://setiathome.berkeley.edu/ and download a free screensaver and
help search for life beyond earth.

"Lindsay Graham" wrote in message
...
I'm using Excel 2000 on a Vista desktop and on an XP laptop. I'm
finding that cell formatting will not work any more. For example, if I
try to apply date or custom date formatting to a cell containing
'8/6/08', the cell is not formatted as a date. The only possible thing
that I can think of is that I was trialling OpenOffice and initially I
thought that the problem was limited to Excel files that I had opened in
OpenOffice. But I'm now finding that the problem exists in new files
created in Excel that have never been opened in OpenOffice.

Can anyone help? I've never had this problem before.

--
Lindsay Graham
Canberra, Australia
---------------------------------------------
Please reply only to the newsgroup so that all may benefit.

And retyping the date didn't help???

If that helps, then you may have other stuff in those cells--maybe white space
(those HMTL non-breaking spaces???).



Lindsay Graham wrote:

An additional point that may help someone resolve my problem.

With cells where I have entered a date but have not tried to apply any
format, the format (R click on the cell Format Cells... Number tab)
appears as General (ie, no specific number format).

With cells where I have applied a format, it appears as, for example,
'Custom' 'd/m/y_)'. Although this is what would be expected, the date
format is not present -- the cell cannot be used in formulae and will not
sort correctly as a date.

Does this suggest anything to anyone?

--
Lindsay Graham
Canberra, Australia
---------------------------------------------
Please reply only to the list/newsgroup so that all may benefit.

"Lindsay Graham" wrote in message
...
Thank you, Dave, Gord and Shane. I'm sure you're right and the cells are
formatted as text. However, I've tried each method that you have
suggested, and nothing helps. The date formatting is still not applied.

My preferred custom format is 'd/m/yy_)' but I've tried several standard
date formats as well. I'm really stumped.

Any other ideas out there?

--
Lindsay Graham
Canberra, Australia
---------------------------------------------
Please reply only to the list/newsgroup so that all may benefit.

"Shane Devenshire" wrote in message
...
Hi Lindsay,

I assume as have others that the dates are really text - so
1. Click an empty cell and choose Copy
2. Select all the date cell and choose Edit, Paste Special, Add
3. Then apply a date formatting of your choosing.

Cheers,
Shane Devenshire
Microsoft Excel MVP
Join http://setiathome.berkeley.edu/ and download a free screensaver and
help search for life beyond earth.

"Lindsay Graham" wrote in message
...
I'm using Excel 2000 on a Vista desktop and on an XP laptop. I'm
finding that cell formatting will not work any more. For example, if I
try to apply date or custom date formatting to a cell containing
'8/6/08', the cell is not formatted as a date. The only possible thing
that I can think of is that I was trialling OpenOffice and initially I
thought that the problem was limited to Excel files that I had opened in
OpenOffice. But I'm now finding that the problem exists in new files
created in Excel that have never been opened in OpenOffice.

Can anyone help? I've never had this problem before.

--
Lindsay Graham
Canberra, Australia
---------------------------------------------
Please reply only to the newsgroup so that all may benefit.


--

Dave Peterson

No, Dave, retyping does not help, I'm afraid.

It's a brand new spreadsheet, and there's definitely nothing else in the
cells.

I remain totally stumped!!

--
Lindsay Graham
Canberra, Australia
---------------------------------------------
Please reply only to the list/newsgroup so that all may benefit.

"Dave Peterson" wrote in message
...
And retyping the date didn't help???

If that helps, then you may have other stuff in those cells--maybe white
space
(those HMTL non-breaking spaces???).



Lindsay Graham wrote:

An additional point that may help someone resolve my problem.

With cells where I have entered a date but have not tried to apply any
format, the format (R click on the cell Format Cells... Number tab)
appears as General (ie, no specific number format).

With cells where I have applied a format, it appears as, for example,
'Custom' 'd/m/y_)'. Although this is what would be expected, the date
format is not present -- the cell cannot be used in formulae and will not
sort correctly as a date.

Does this suggest anything to anyone?

--
Lindsay Graham
Canberra, Australia
---------------------------------------------
Please reply only to the list/newsgroup so that all may benefit.

"Lindsay Graham" wrote in message
...
Thank you, Dave, Gord and Shane. I'm sure you're right and the cells
are
formatted as text. However, I've tried each method that you have
suggested, and nothing helps. The date formatting is still not
applied.

My preferred custom format is 'd/m/yy_)' but I've tried several
standard
date formats as well. I'm really stumped.

Any other ideas out there?

--
Lindsay Graham
Canberra, Australia
---------------------------------------------
Please reply only to the list/newsgroup so that all may benefit.

"Shane Devenshire" wrote in message
...
Hi Lindsay,

I assume as have others that the dates are really text - so
1. Click an empty cell and choose Copy
2. Select all the date cell and choose Edit, Paste Special, Add
3. Then apply a date formatting of your choosing.

Cheers,
Shane Devenshire
Microsoft Excel MVP
Join http://setiathome.berkeley.edu/ and download a free screensaver
and
help search for life beyond earth.

"Lindsay Graham" wrote in message
...
I'm using Excel 2000 on a Vista desktop and on an XP laptop. I'm
finding that cell formatting will not work any more. For example, if
I
try to apply date or custom date formatting to a cell containing
'8/6/08', the cell is not formatted as a date. The only possible
thing
that I can think of is that I was trialling OpenOffice and initially
I
thought that the problem was limited to Excel files that I had opened
in
OpenOffice. But I'm now finding that the problem exists in new files
created in Excel that have never been opened in OpenOffice.

Can anyone help? I've never had this problem before.

--
Lindsay Graham
Canberra, Australia
---------------------------------------------
Please reply only to the newsgroup so that all may benefit.


--

Dave Peterson