If all the numerical data are dates, you can format the column as Dates. The
text data will not be impacted by the formatting. Then, in your Conditional
formatting set the test as "Less than or Equal to" and the condition as
"=TODAY()+30" (or 60 or 90) to see if the date falls within that range.

"M. A. Newcomb" wrote:

I have a course staffing table in Excel that I use to assign faculty to classes.
The cells in the spreadsheet are in "general" format, with mixed data types,
like the name of the instructor, class session dates, and orientation date for
the class. Can I set up a conditional format statement that looks only to the
orientation date, and then applies shading, etc. to cells that contain an
orientation date less than 30 days out, 60 days out, and 90 days out? I have
used conditional formatting to flag warning dates in this way, but do not know
how to have Excel parse the date in a mixed cell.

Thanks,
M. A. Newcomb