Dates of embedded Excel chart changed going from Mac to PC

[Bert]

On my Macinsoth (G4, OS X 10.3.1) I created a simple column chart in
MS Office X Excel, then pasted it into a MS OX Powerpoint file. When
I sent the PP file to PC users they reported that the X axis's monthly
date range had become Oct-98 thru Sep-99 rather than the original
Nov-02 thru Oct-03 .

To verify this I opened the original Powerpoint file from within
Virtual PC (W2K). The chart initially came up empty with the infamous
red X in the corner of the chart object. After double clicking on the
red X the chart appeared, resized and, sure enough, the dates had
been changed. In all other respects the chart was accurate. I saved
this PC PP file; when it was opened on my Macintosh the dates
remained incorrect.

Any suggestions?

 

[Jim Gordon MVP]

Hi Bert,

You are seeing the 1904 vs 1900 date system difference between Mac and
Windows versions of Excel (which handles the dates for graphs).

This article offers explanations in the section "Setting the date system."
"Crunch numbers across platforms with Excel"
<http://www.microsoft.com/mac/products/excelx/using.aspx?pid=usingexcelx&typ
e=tips&article=/mac/LIBRARY/how_to_articles/officex/xl_crossplatform.xml>

-Jim Gordon
Mac MVP

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