Dates in Excel 2007

[Basenji]

Using Excel 2007 data has been imported from Crystal Reports into an Excel
2007 spreadsheet. Column D is Proc Date; column J is Confirm Date. Column L
is used to calculate the difference between the two dates, L2 = J2 - D2.
Column L is formatted with a general number to show the number of days
between the two dates. While the Proc Date is available the Confirm Date is
not always available, so the cell is blank. In the calculation, L2, the numer
that is returned is -40190, indicating that it is taking January 1, 1900, and
subtracting January 12, 2010. Is there a setting or some other way to prevent
a default date from being inserted when there is none so that ##### shows in
the calculated cell?

 

[Atif]

=IF(J1<>"",J1-D1,"####")

 

[Basenji]

Thanks for the formula. It address the negative number for the difference of
the two dates. However, is there a way to prevent Excel from "assuming" a
date of January 1, 1900, when no date is entered?

 

[Basenji]

Thank you for the formulas. They provide a solution for the negative number
for the difference of the two dates when the one date is missing. However, is
there a way to prevent Excel from "assuming" a date of January 1, 1900, when
no date is entered?

 

[Basenji]

Yes, that's what either of my 2 formulae will do for you. 1 January 1900 is
the Excel date for a value of zero. If you don't want it to use that value
of zero, you need to tell Excel not to do the arithmetic with that cell in
that situation. If you tell Excel to do the arithmetic, and if the value in
the cell is zero, then it is treated as 1 January 1900.
--
David Biddulph




.

 

[Basenji]

Thank you for the explanation. It is helpful when dealing with dates in
calculations.