Dates show up as a 5 digit number in Excel 2007

[Dan Shelby]

I have this spreadsheet in which column A contains dates entered in the
format 11/16 which, heretofore, has resulted in a cell readout of 16 Nov, or
perhaps 16-Nov.

Now, all of a sudden, the cells in column A have 5 digit numbers. Oddly
enough, the value in the formula bar still shows a valid date readout.
Also, when you place your cursor over a cell in column A, it displays a
valid date. Example, cell A1 displays a value of 40127 while the formula
bar displays 11/10/2009.

I have tried highlighting the column and changing the format without
success.

I was unable to figure out how to get Excel to display the correct values in
Column A so I changed the format of column A to Text and entered mm/dd
values. This is not what I would expect to have to do with a top-notch
spreadsheet.

Any ideas would be appreciated. Thanks in advance.

 

[Dave Peterson]

It sounds like you're looking at formulas.

In xl2003 menus:
tools|options|view tab|uncheck formulas

I don't recall where under the Office button|excel options this is kept, but...

ctrl-` (control-backquote, the key to the left of the 1/! on my USA keyboard) is
the shortcut key for toggling this setting.

 

[Rick Rothstein]

It sounds like you're looking at formulas.

In xl2003 menus:
tools|options|view tab|uncheck formulas

I don't recall where under the Office button|excel options this is kept...

In XL2007.... click the Office Button, click the Excel Options button,
select Advanced from the left-hand listing, scroll down to the "Display
options for this workbook" section and uncheck the CheckBox labeled "Show
formulas in cells instead of their calculated results".

 

[Dave Peterson]

Just where you'd expect it <vbg>...

Thanks Rick.