ExcelBanter - unwanted date conversions

OK, Gary. You have 2 things going for you. (1) Gary -- Good name :O !!! -
(2) My wife is the head of Epidemiology (Infection Control) at St. Mary's
Hospital in Waterbury, CT! (And I was the head of the Accounting Department
there for 10 years :O).

So, let's start with the import. It sounds like you are importing a .csv
file into Excel. If you can control the part between when the file is
created and when you import it into Excel, we can solve your problem.
After the file has been exported from your source program, using Windows
Explorer, rename the .csv file as a .txt file. For example, the source
program exports the data to C:\Temp\MyFile.csv. Using Windows Explorer, go
to the C:\Temp folder, highlight MyFile.csv and re-name it myFile.txt. When
Excel sees a csv file, it automatically uploads it and makes assumptions.
When Excel sees a txt file, it starts up the Import Wizard. From here you
can tell Excel how to treat each field, ie: make it text, number, etc.

Feel free to contact me directly by taking the _NOSPAM out of my email
below. I'm currently consulting with GE in Norwalk, CT. Just remember the
3 hour time difference :O!

HTH,
--
Gary Brown

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"Gary N" wrote:

I'm importing data into Excel, and Excel is converting the data into a date.
Example MAR01 is converted into March 01, 2006. The problem is I want
MAR01, not 03/01/06. Because of the way the import runs, I cannot make the
field "text."

BTW this same problem happens when I create a pivot table of this data.
Excel again converts the test into a date.

I have researched this and have not been able to figure out how to have
Excel just accept the data as it comes in w/o "converting" it.

Right now I have to find the "problems" and manually covert back to the
correct value. And this is driving me nuts.

thanks
Gary