Question about Data->Text to Columns command

[success_ny]

Hi!

I am running Data->Text to Columns on the date column of my excel
spreadsheet. I would like it to have the MM/DD/YYYY format. The only
format available close to what I need is MDY which basically converts
all values in the column into MM/DD/YY (only 2 digits for a year).

Is there a way to specify the format that would keep year as 4-digit
number? Is there a way to customize this command?

I was adviced by one Excel guru to do this operation so I can correctly
sort my spreadsheet by the date column.

Thanks.

 

[Guest]

Try this:

Select your date cells
<Format><Cells><Number tab>
Category: Custom
Type: mm/dd/yyyy

Does that help?

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Regards,
Ron

XL2002, WinXP-Pro

 

[Bryan Hessey]

The Text-to-Columns wants to know the input format, (ie, MD or DM) it is
not concerned with the output format.
Dates are stored as numbers, see
http://www.mvps.org/dmcritchie/excel/datetime.htm for a more detailed
explanation.
You can set or pre-set the displayed Date to whatever form you wish.

Hope this helps

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