Since the double slash would never be found in a "normal" date, Excel is
treating the entry as text. There would not be an error for this entry any
more than if you typed Pete into the cell. If you are thinking that
formatting the cell as Date would offer some sort of error validation, that
is not the way cell formatting works; rather, all it will do is coerce a
value to look like a date if the entered value **is** a valid date or an
integer that can be equated to a date (where January 1, 1900 is represented
by 1 and any other number in range represents an offset from this date). For
example, assuming the cell is formatted as Date, type in an integer value
between 1 and 2958465 and watch the value change to a date format (that is,
a date between January 1, 1900 and December 31, 9999). However, enter
2958466 (one more than that value) and it will remain a number (and also
re-format the cell to General).

Rick


"Pete Derkowski" wrote in message
...

D'OH.... I figured it out... in A1 I had entered 05/01//08 - weird that
excel didn't flag the error since it's not a valid date format (I think).

Thanks All!

Pete....

"Bob Phillips" wrote in message
...
=A1+5

and format as a date

--
HTH

Bob

(there's no email, no snail mail, but somewhere should be gmail in my
addy)

"Pete Derkowski" wrote in message
...
Hi, this may sound simple, but I can't seem to figure it out.

In cell A1 (a date cell) I'll enter a date.

I want to set A2 (also a date cell) to A1 + 5 days.

I've played with datevalue and some other Fn's but just can't seem to
get it.

Anyone have the magic answer? What am I missing?

Pete