typed dates not recognized

[PeterBee]

A new machine, fully Vista and Office 2007 patched, but Excel doesn't recognise
dates typed into any cell as a date. Home user, so not eligible for MS
assistance.
Uninstalled 2007, installed 2000, still doesn't accept eg. 16/4/2008 typed
in a
cell as date, even if formated as such. Experienced Excel user. Any
suggestions
greatly appreciated.

 

[PeterBee]

Hello Jan Karel Pieterse

What is set in Office button, Excel options, Advanced tab, at bottom of screen
under Lotus compatibility options?

Regards,

Jan Karel Pieterse
Excel MVP
http://www.jkp-ads.com
Member of:
Professional Office Developer Association
www.proofficedev.com

The three Lotus transition boxes are blank. Ticking each gave the expected
results, such as slash interpreted as division if Formula Entry ticked.

Not the problem, I'm thinking. Obviously I can enter 39600, format as date,
and produce June 1, 2008. Otherwise interprets typed dates as a string, even
flagging two digit year as an error and offering to correct it.

Machine purchased with Vista and Office 2007 preinstalled. What really
puzzles me is that uninstalling 2007 and installing 2000 still yields a
string. Now that is wierd!

Do you have any other suggestions I could try?

Thank you for your kind assistance

Peter

 

[Gary''s Student]

I am not sure about Vista, but typed dates can be mis-interpreted if your
regional settings in Control Panel are scrambled.

Check these first.

 

[PeterBee]

Hi Gary's Student and Jan Karel Pieterse

Like Gary says: check your date settings in control panel, maybe it expects a
different date format (Excel uses those settings too).

Regards,

Jan Karel Pieterse
Excel MVP
http://www.jkp-ads.com
Member of:
Professional Office Developer Association
www.proofficedev.com

Good idea; would explain why both 2007 and 2000 refuse to interpret string
as a date.

My first Vista system so still a bit confused, but the settings appear as I
would expect. Tried customising day/month and month/day, also force double
digit, and the asterisk date format follows the Regional setting, so I know
Excel is 'seeing' same Regional as I am.

Perhaps it is outside Excel, but what confuses me is that Excel flags a two
digit year as an error, offering to correct it, so knows it's a date, but
still interprets as a string. Maybe there's another 'transition' switch
hidden somewhere?

Guess I'll have to have two cells for every date entry, converting the
string to a date numeric. Or return to XP; I've already got the system
interface set to classic to ditch Aero and so forth.

Thank you both for your interest in this matter.

Peter