Date format not retained when saving as Text (tab-delimited)

[googlegroups.5.ericg]

Hello. I'm a Windows Excel (Excel 2003) user, but am asking a Mac
Excel question on behalf of a friend. He saved an Excel file as a
tab-delimited text file, but it did not properly retain the date
format. When I (the PC-user) save an Excel file that has a column of
dates in mm/dd/yyyy format as a tab-delimited text file, that exact
date format is retained in the text file, including leading zeros.
However, when I send my friend an Excel file with mm/dd/yyyy date
format and he saves it as tab-delimited text file on his Mac, the date
format is lost, i.e., leading zeros are lost and the yyyy becomes yy.
This created a serious problem because he then tried to upload it into
a web-based database application that required mm/dd/yyyy format, but
the data wouldn't go in at all, of course. Why did his Mac Excel not
retain the date format in the text file? I'm not a Mac user at all, so
perhaps it's something simple that someone can share with me and I'll
pass it on to my friend. Thank you.

 

[CyberTaz]

To retain the formatting have your fried Save As> Text (Windows) rather than
Text (Tab Delimited). Mac OS/XL uses true text-based output for tab
delimited which employs conventional 'short date' format.

HTH |:>)


On 1/26/06 1:54 AM, in article
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