how to create a dynamic descending list of months & years

[marika1981]

I'm trying to create a spreadsheet whereby in cell A1 I enter in any given
Month and Year ("January 2005", formatted as a date), and in cells B1:J1 the
previous months and years show up (December 2004; November 2004; October
2004; etc....) If I type in "April 1985", the adjacent cells would read
"March 1985; February 1985; January 1985; December 1984; etc...

I've thought of a couple laboriuos, crude, potentially faulty ways of doing
this, but it seems like there should be an eloquent solution.

Very much appreciated!!!
Marika

 

[Nick B]

Can you put the following formula in B1:
=date(year(A1),2,1)
the following in C1:
=date(year(A1),3,1)
etc. this will create a date with the year that is in A1 and the second
parameter specifies the number of the month...

 

[Jason Morin]

Enter the 1st day of the month in A1 in the format
m/d/yy, then customer format as mmmm yyy.

In B1 insert this:

=DATE(YEAR(A1),MONTH(A1)-1,1)

and fill across. Format the cells as mmmm yyy.

HTH
Jason
Atlanta, GA

 

[Max]

One way

With A1 containing, say: January 2005

Put in B1:

=DATE(YEAR($A1),MONTH($A1)-COLUMNS($A$1:A1),1)

Format as per date in A1

Copy B1 across as many cols as needed

The above will return what is wanted

 

[marika1981]

Jason - thank you!!! That worked perfectly!

Breathing easier,

Marika

 

[Nick B]

Sorry, didn't read it close enough.

Can you put the following formula in B1:
=date(year(A1),2,1)
the following in C1:
=date(year(A1),3,1)
etc. this will create a date with the year that is in A1 and the second
parameter specifies the number of the month...