My post feels very lonely as nobody has responded. So I will answer my own
query.
I have a utility that exports ACT! dates in ddmmyyyy to an excel
template.xlt which calculates and sends the result back to ACT!.
Format\cell\all the ddmmyyyy formats plus custom formats had no effect,
template .xlt is immovably N American on mmddyyyy. ddmmyyyy outputs to .xlt
were ok as long as the days fell in the 13 to 31 inclusive range. Days 1 to
12 calculated to mmdd. The solution I have found is to format .xlt as text
which reads the ddmmyyyy input as sent. Formulas read the .xlt text cell
contents as a ddmmyyyy date and calculate accurately.
Can MS please have a look at template.xlt format facilities. Also, my
experience is that you cannot back up excel.xlt while excel.xls is open
without getting warnings about loss of data. Closing .xls enables warning
free back ups of .xlt.
