I have a stock sheet in which i keep track of the date that stock was
received, where the stock is stored and the total stock. I enter the date
that the stock was received and the date that it was entered into the storage
place. What i need is for the Total Stock sheet to automatically calculate
the most recent date the stock was received.

Basically i want to use a function to compare two dates and produce the most
recent one, but am not sure which function will do this as the one that i
know only do this for numbers in which the smallest or earliest figure is
obvious...

The MAX() function will return the most recent date:

A1 = 2/16/2007
A2 = 2/12/2007

=MAX(A1:A2)

Returns: 2/16/2007

If it returns something like 39129 just format as DATE.

Biff

"Julie" wrote in message
...
I have a stock sheet in which i keep track of the date that stock was
received, where the stock is stored and the total stock. I enter the date
that the stock was received and the date that it was entered into the
storage
place. What i need is for the Total Stock sheet to automatically calculate
the most recent date the stock was received.

Basically i want to use a function to compare two dates and produce the
most
recent one, but am not sure which function will do this as the one that i
know only do this for numbers in which the smallest or earliest figure is
obvious...

This still produces the wrong date. For instance 23/1/07 is given instead of
16/2/07 because it is a "larger"

"T. Valko" wrote:

The MAX() function will return the most recent date:

A1 = 2/16/2007
A2 = 2/12/2007

=MAX(A1:A2)

Returns: 2/16/2007

If it returns something like 39129 just format as DATE.

Biff

"Julie" wrote in message
...
I have a stock sheet in which i keep track of the date that stock was
received, where the stock is stored and the total stock. I enter the date
that the stock was received and the date that it was entered into the
storage
place. What i need is for the Total Stock sheet to automatically calculate
the most recent date the stock was received.

Basically i want to use a function to compare two dates and produce the
most
recent one, but am not sure which function will do this as the one that i
know only do this for numbers in which the smallest or earliest figure is
obvious...

In which case you haven't got dates in your spreadsheet, you've got text
strings. Change them to dates. One possibility is that you are using a
different date format from that which your Excel settings or your Windows
rehgional settings are expecting. Another possibility is that you've got
spare spaces or other non-printing characters in your text string. Another
possibility is that the cell was formatted as text before you put the data
in.
--
David Biddulph

"Julie" wrote in message
...
This still produces the wrong date. For instance 23/1/07 is given instead
of
16/2/07 because it is a "larger"

"T. Valko" wrote:

The MAX() function will return the most recent date:

A1 = 2/16/2007
A2 = 2/12/2007

=MAX(A1:A2)

Returns: 2/16/2007

If it returns something like 39129 just format as DATE.

Biff

"Julie" wrote in message
...
I have a stock sheet in which i keep track of the date that stock was
received, where the stock is stored and the total stock. I enter the
date
that the stock was received and the date that it was entered into the
storage
place. What i need is for the Total Stock sheet to automatically
calculate
the most recent date the stock was received.

Basically i want to use a function to compare two dates and produce the
most
recent one, but am not sure which function will do this as the one that
i
know only do this for numbers in which the smallest or earliest figure
is
obvious...

I am Australian and need the dates in the Australian format (dd,mm,yyyy).

Excel is set up to accept the Australian date format, and yes i do have the
format for the cells set to date.

Is there no way to produce the most recent date if it is not the US
format?????

"David Biddulph" wrote:

In which case you haven't got dates in your spreadsheet, you've got text
strings. Change them to dates. One possibility is that you are using a
different date format from that which your Excel settings or your Windows
rehgional settings are expecting. Another possibility is that you've got
spare spaces or other non-printing characters in your text string. Another
possibility is that the cell was formatted as text before you put the data
in.
--
David Biddulph

"Julie" wrote in message
...
This still produces the wrong date. For instance 23/1/07 is given instead
of
16/2/07 because it is a "larger"

"T. Valko" wrote:

The MAX() function will return the most recent date:

A1 = 2/16/2007
A2 = 2/12/2007

=MAX(A1:A2)

Returns: 2/16/2007

If it returns something like 39129 just format as DATE.

Biff

"Julie" wrote in message
...
I have a stock sheet in which i keep track of the date that stock was
received, where the stock is stored and the total stock. I enter the
date
that the stock was received and the date that it was entered into the
storage
place. What i need is for the Total Stock sheet to automatically
calculate
the most recent date the stock was received.

Basically i want to use a function to compare two dates and produce the
most
recent one, but am not sure which function will do this as the one that
i
know only do this for numbers in which the smallest or earliest figure
is
obvious...

I use UK dates, and MAX works fine with them. Dates are only numbers
to Excel, so if your dates are proper dates then it should work ok. As
a check, select one of your date cells and format it as a number - if
it is a proper date then you should get something around 39000
showing. Format it back to date and try the same on the other date
cell.

Hope this helps.

Pete

On Feb 21, 10:57 pm, Julie wrote:
I am Australian and need the dates in the Australian format (dd,mm,yyyy).

Excel is set up to accept the Australian date format, and yes i do have the
format for the cells set to date.

Is there no way to produce the most recent date if it is not the US
format?????



"David Biddulph" wrote:
In which case you haven't got dates in your spreadsheet, you've got text
strings. Change them to dates. One possibility is that you are using a
different date format from that which your Excel settings or your Windows
rehgional settings are expecting. Another possibility is that you've got
spare spaces or other non-printing characters in your text string. Another
possibility is that the cell was formatted as text before you put the data
in.
--
David Biddulph

"Julie" wrote in message
...
This still produces the wrong date. For instance 23/1/07 is given instead
of
16/2/07 because it is a "larger"

"T. Valko" wrote:

The MAX() function will return the most recent date:

A1 = 2/16/2007
A2 = 2/12/2007

=MAX(A1:A2)

Returns: 2/16/2007

If it returns something like 39129 just format as DATE.

Biff

"Julie" wrote in message
...
I have a stock sheet in which i keep track of the date that stock was
received, where the stock is stored and the total stock. I enter the
date
that the stock was received and the date that it was entered into the
storage
place. What i need is for the Total Stock sheet to automatically
calculate
the most recent date the stock was received.

Basically i want to use a function to compare two dates and produce the
most
recent one, but am not sure which function will do this as the one that
i
know only do this for numbers in which the smallest or earliest figure
is
obvious...- Hide quoted text -

- Show quoted text -

Excel will cope happily in Australian format (and that's the same as we have
here in England), so I guess that the problem is probably one of the things
I suggested earlier. For a date in cell A1 to sort, =ISNUMBER(A1) should be
TRUE and =ISTEXT(A1) should be FALSE. If the cells are text, check again
for spaces or other non-printing characters before or after the number.
To convert the text to dates, you could try Data/ Text to columns/
delimited/ out to last stage/ select Column data format: Date: DMY
Other options you could try are to put a zero in a spare cell, copy, and
Edit/ Paste special/ add (or a 1 and Edit/ Paste special/ multiply).
--
David Biddulph

"Julie" wrote in message
...
I am Australian and need the dates in the Australian format (dd,mm,yyyy).

Excel is set up to accept the Australian date format, and yes i do have
the
format for the cells set to date.

Is there no way to produce the most recent date if it is not the US
format?????

"David Biddulph" wrote:

In which case you haven't got dates in your spreadsheet, you've got text
strings. Change them to dates. One possibility is that you are using a
different date format from that which your Excel settings or your Windows
rehgional settings are expecting. Another possibility is that you've got
spare spaces or other non-printing characters in your text string.
Another
possibility is that the cell was formatted as text before you put the
data
in.

"Julie" wrote in message
...
This still produces the wrong date. For instance 23/1/07 is given
instead
of
16/2/07 because it is a "larger"

"T. Valko" wrote:

The MAX() function will return the most recent date:

A1 = 2/16/2007
A2 = 2/12/2007

=MAX(A1:A2)

Returns: 2/16/2007

If it returns something like 39129 just format as DATE.

Biff

"Julie" wrote in message
...
I have a stock sheet in which i keep track of the date that stock was
received, where the stock is stored and the total stock. I enter the
date
that the stock was received and the date that it was entered into
the
storage
place. What i need is for the Total Stock sheet to automatically
calculate
the most recent date the stock was received.

Basically i want to use a function to compare two dates and produce
the
most
recent one, but am not sure which function will do this as the one
that
i
know only do this for numbers in which the smallest or earliest
figure
is
obvious...