enter date in column a and amount in column d

[George A. Yorks]

In small spread sheet want to enter date in column a and amount in column d.
Using cell format, I've selected 04/05/05 but when I enter 040505 date comes
out with an incorrect date. Likewise when I have formated column d for
currancy with two decimal places, entering 19438.22 without the decimal point
comes out $1,943,822. I know I'm doing something wrong but can't figure what

 

[JLatham]

The cell format only controls how it looks after it's been entered, it
doesn't provide an input format type of process as you see available in
Access. Go ahead and type your dates in m/d/yy format - then they'll show up
as mm/dd/yyyy.
That is not to say that you have to use m/d/yy - you could use variations as
m/dd/yyyy and the output will be mm/dd/yy regardless.

As for the 19438.22 coming out the way it is - look at
Tools | Options | [Edit] tab and make sure the check box next to "Fixed
Decimal Places" is cleared.

 

[Roger Govier]

Hi George

Even though you have formatted the column as dd/mm/yy (or mm/dd/yy) you
need to enter the date as 4/5/5 for it to come out as 04/05/05.
Entering 040505, Excel thinks it is a serial number of the number of
days after 00/01/1900 and will return a date of
23/11/2010 (UK format)

As for the numbers, go to Tools>Options>Edit>uncheck Fixed Decimal
places