Date jump

[John]

I have an excel file in which I have a series of dates in sequential
cells. I need to copy those dates to annother excel file, but when i
paste the copied dates into the second file it increments each date by
4 years and 1 day (12/7/05 becomes 12/8/09). Does anyone have an idea
what is causing this to happen?

 

[JE McGimpsey]

I have an excel file in which I have a series of dates in sequential
cells. I need to copy those dates to annother excel file, but when i
paste the copied dates into the second file it increments each date by
4 years and 1 day (12/7/05 becomes 12/8/09). Does anyone have an idea
what is causing this to happen?

The file you're copying from uses the Windows default 1900 date system,
while the file you're pasting to uses the Mac default 1904 date system
(the extra day is due to the fact that the 1900 system contains
2/29/1900, a day that never existed).

You could change the destination to 1900 (Preferences/Calculation,
uncheck the 1904 date system checkbox), or you could subtract 1462 from
the destination dates. The way to do that in bulk is to enter 1462 in a
blank cell, copy the cell, select your dates, and choose Edit/Paste
Special, selecting the Values and Subtract radio buttons.

 

[Helpful Harry]

I have an excel file in which I have a series of dates in sequential
cells. I need to copy those dates to annother excel file, but when i
paste the copied dates into the second file it increments each date by
4 years and 1 day (12/7/05 becomes 12/8/09). Does anyone have an idea
what is causing this to happen?

It sounds like those "dates" are actually a formula that is based on
another cell. When you paste them into another spreadsheet they're
using the value from the same cell in the new spreadsheet.



Helpful Harry
Hopefully helping harassed humans happily handle handiwork hardships ;o)

 

[John]

Problem resolved - Thanks