Dates not entered correctly

[Stealth_scorpio]

Hi

I have Excel 2003 (11.8220.8221) SP3 running on Vista Ultimate SP1 and have
a weird glitch.

Whenever I try to enter a date such as todays date, Oct 4, into Excel - it
inputs it as Oct 1, 2004. It takes my day input as a year... How do I fix it
so it returns to normal and output the proper month/day instead of
month/year.

I have never seen this issue before in any previous version of Excel.

Any help would be appreciated as it is starting to get anoying entering the
year everytime.

Thanks,

 

[Barb Reinhardt]

I've seen it before, but don't know the cause. I'm hoping someone else can
assist.

Barb Reinhardt

 

[Barb Reinhardt]

I did a little more digging and found this.

When you change the default date format to a different format by using this
procedure, the display of dates that were previously entered in your workbook
will change to the new format as long as the dates haven't been formatted by
using the Cells command (Format menu).

* On the Microsoft Windows Start menu, point to Settings, and then click
Control Panel.
* Double click the Regional Settings or Regional Options icon.
* In the Short date format list, click a format that uses four digits for
the year ("yyyy"). (I had to change the selection at the top to change it
on my system)

I have English (United States) selected at the top and the short date format
is 10/4/2008. I wonder if your Short Date format is 4/10/2008.

 

[Barb Reinhardt]

It also appears that you can customize the settings as needed.

Barb Reinhardt

 

[Gord Dibben]

Try 04-Oct

It would depend upon your windows regional settings which value you get.


Gord Dibben MS Excel MVP

 

[Pete_UK]

I suspect that you have turned on the 1904 date system - click on Tools |
Options | Calculation tab, and you will see that option at the bottom which
you can uncheck and the click OK.

Hope this helps.

Pete

 

[Stealth_scorpio]

Thanks for the help - the regonal settings was reporting it as day month
year. I switched it and works fine. I was in there previously and never
noticed it (I was looking to see if the year was at the end of the entry).

Entering as 4 oct works too, with both short date formating (but I've been
using oct 4 format so long I can't change ...)

The 1904 date system was not checked.

Thanks for the help guys,
Sorry for late responce.