Difference between 8/15/2009 & 8/5/2009

[Ghitorni]

Opened a new file, typed 8/15/2009 in A1, 8/16/2009 in A2, 8/5/2009 in A3.
Automatically, the last one gets converted to 08-05-2009, and right-aligned
also. Happens in all new files I create. Am I doing something wrong because
I wanted the same treatment for both earlier values which appear
left-aligned. Any clues? I am using excel 2007. Thanks

 

[Dave Peterson]

And you're trying to enter dates, right?

If you format that 8/5/2009 (converted to 08-05-2009) in an unambiguous date
format, like: mmmm dd, yyyy, I'm betting that you'll see:

May 8, 2009

If that's true, then excel won't touch the first two entries since their is no
month that corresponds to 15 or 16.

Excel uses the windows short date format (modified in Windows Control
panel|regional settings) to parse your entry.

And I'm guessing that your short date format is in dmy order.

So you can either change that windows setting or you can change the order you
enter your dates.

 

[Ghitorni]

Thanks. But in Vista, that's the only format, dd-mm-yy and since I am from
India, I had chosen that locale. Does it mean that to get mm-dd-yy, I have
to change to some other country time zone?

 

[Dave Peterson]

It's a windows setting.

Go to the control panel (windows start button|control panel or settings, then
control panel).

Look for regional and language options
I'm using WinXP, so the captions may not be the same.

On the Regional Options tab, hit the Customize button.
Then go to the Date Tab

Make sure the short date format is in the same order as the way you want to
input dates.

Formatting the cell in excel won't change the order for entering the dates -- it
only displays the value entered in the way you want.