Custom Date Format

[Guest]

When working with data from a spreadsheet which originated from a much
earlier version of Excel (Excel95, I believe), which I'm now trying to use
with Excel 2003. I'm having trouble with the formatting of the date being
interpreted as a formula and forcing an equals sign "=" to appear next to the
data.

When the file is first opened, the original data appears correctly.
However, after editing the data in the field and pressing the 'enter' key,
the date displayed on the sheet shows "00-Jan-00". When I use the arrow keys
to go back up to that particular cell....it shows an equals sign followed by
the correct date I put in...which seems to force Excel into thinking that
it's a formula rather than a date. Any attempts to delete the equals sign
does not take-hold...it reappears afterwards.

When I right-click on the cell to look at the formatting of the cell...it
shows it as being a custom date format. Even if I change it from a custom
date format to one of the standard date formats....the equals sign still
appears. Attempts to change the formatting to a standard TEXT, rather than a
date format....still won't remove the equals sign....and still causes the
sheet to show "00-Jan-00".

I can't seem to make ANY changes to this document without it changing the
data in some of these date-formatted fields to display "00-Jan-00". Is there
some way to get the data properly showing again?

 

[Ron Rosenfeld]

When working with data from a spreadsheet which originated from a much
earlier version of Excel (Excel95, I believe), which I'm now trying to use
with Excel 2003. I'm having trouble with the formatting of the date being
interpreted as a formula and forcing an equals sign "=" to appear next to the
data.

When the file is first opened, the original data appears correctly.
However, after editing the data in the field and pressing the 'enter' key,
the date displayed on the sheet shows "00-Jan-00". When I use the arrow keys
to go back up to that particular cell....it shows an equals sign followed by
the correct date I put in...which seems to force Excel into thinking that
it's a formula rather than a date. Any attempts to delete the equals sign
does not take-hold...it reappears afterwards.

When I right-click on the cell to look at the formatting of the cell...it
shows it as being a custom date format. Even if I change it from a custom
date format to one of the standard date formats....the equals sign still
appears. Attempts to change the formatting to a standard TEXT, rather than a
date format....still won't remove the equals sign....and still causes the
sheet to show "00-Jan-00".

I can't seem to make ANY changes to this document without it changing the
data in some of these date-formatted fields to display "00-Jan-00". Is there
some way to get the data properly showing again?

Tools/Options/Transition and uncheck the Sheet options, if they are selected


--ron

 

[Guest]

This worked! Thank you.

Are there any other caveats like that which transition over from earlier
versions of Excel what I should be aware of? Basically, I'm looking for
anything else to watch out for that I might negatively inherit because of
this legacy document from an earlier version of Excel.

Thank you again!

 

[Ron Rosenfeld]

This worked! Thank you.

Are there any other caveats like that which transition over from earlier
versions of Excel what I should be aware of? Basically, I'm looking for
anything else to watch out for that I might negatively inherit because of
this legacy document from an earlier version of Excel.

I don't know. Actually, in this case, the "transition" options are for
compatibility with Lotus 123; not for older versions of Excel.
--ron