Cell Formatting

[BobG]

I am working on a spreadsheet in Excel 2007 that I did not produce. There is
a DATE coumn that displays the dates in the 5 digit NUMBER format even when
entered in a regular form such as 4/8/2008. I have tried reformatting the
column in DATE format without any success. The sheet and workbook protection
is OFF and the cells individually show no locks. Does anybody please have
any idea how I can get these dates to display in the date fomat in which
they were entered.
BobG

 

[Dave Peterson]

If you look in the formula bar, do you see the date nicely formatted?

But the cell stays that funny 5 digit number in the cell--no matter how you
formatted that cell?

If yes to both...
hit ctrl-` (control-backquote, to the left of the 1/! on my USA keyboard).

That's the toggle to show formulas.

(You can find it if you search through the Excel Options stuff under the Office
button.)

===
If you see the 5 digit number in both the formula bar and the cell, try
formatting the cell as a Date and reentering the date you want.

 

[BobG]

Thank you Dave. That solved the problem.
BobG