Formating of Date

[Chris]

I have a csv file that I open into excel and save the
excel file as a .xls.

The issue is I have a column with dates in it.

I.E. 1/31/200 12:00:00 AM

If I format the cell as 14-Mar-98 and it will not format
it. If I click in the cell and leave without makeing any
entry it will format it with the correct formatting.

I have approx 10,000 rows so this will be very cumbersome
doing it cell by cell.

Thanks in advance

 

[Norman Harker]

Hi Chris!

Try:

Select an empty cell
Copy
Select your 10000 cells
Edit > Paste Special > Add > OK

 

[Guest]

Hello

That worked
Not sure why Add would work but it works.
Thanks

Chris

 

[Norman Harker]

Hi Chris!

Your data was text and not dates but was in a format, which if entered
in (eg) General formatted cell, would be recognised as a date and
converted to a date serial number. As with text numbers generally,
Excel will convert them to numbers if you perform a maths operation on
them. Excel treats adding zero as a maths operation. (You can do the
same if you put 1 in a cell and then use paste special > multiply).