First, sorry for the long post and thank you for helping and looking.

I'm trying to use this formula:
SUMPRODUCT(--(LEFT('[Spares Quotes List V22
26Apr2007.xls]All'!$A$2:$A$5000,4)=$A26),(YEAR(DATEVALUE('[Spares Quotes List
V22 26Apr2007.xls]All'!$M$2:$M$5000)=1900)))

and it returns value, the comment says "a value used in the formula is of
the wrong data type". There ar etwo types of data $A$2:$A$5000 is text and
$M$2:$M$5000 is a date. I want to count how many times the year 1900 shows up
for a particular proposal number ($A$2:$A$5000). I use a value of 0 in the
date field when I don't need to concerned with the information but I need to
count it so the totals work out.

Can this be done?
Thank you in advance for the help.
Joe