Problem with dates changing when Excel worksheet is copied

[LKW]

I am trying to copy information from one Excel workbook to a new one. The
original workbook was created on a Mac, and I am working on it in Office XP
Professional. When I copy data from one spreadsheet to the other, the dates
change. There is no formatting on the original date columns. Adding
formatting to the original date columns doesn't affect the outcome. Anyone
have any ideas?

thanks.

 

[Jerry W. Lewis]

Tools|Options|Calculation One workbook has 1904 date system checked, and the
other does not. Excel dates are a formatted number of days since a reference
date. The reference date is determined by this option. Either both books
must be prepared to interpret the date numbers in the same way, or else you
will need to adjust all dates by adding or subtracting 1462 days, as
appropriate.

Jerry

 

[LKW]

Thanks. Do you know if there is a way to permanently match the two systems,
without having to change a workbook every time it is created or without
having to perform a calculation?

 

[Jerry W. Lewis]

New workbooks by default use te 1900 date system, but workbooks that have
been changed to the 1904 system will remember that setting so that dates will
be interpreted properly. If you want to be able to easily copy dates to
other workbooks without changing them to the 1904 system, then you need to
switch the original workbook to the 1900 system.

As I pointed out in my previous post, you can then correct the dates once
for all by adding 1462 to each date constant (put the number 1462 into a
cell, copy that cell, select all date containing cells and Edit|Paste
Special|Add). Alterntely, you copy the date constants, paste them into
notepat, switch date systems, and copy/paste them from note pad back into the
workbook.

Jerry