Excel help question

I'm cutting and pasting from one spreadsheet to another. The data is entirely dates, presented in MM/DD/YY format. If the date is, for example, 07/30/07, the data changes to 07/29/07 when I paste.

Anybody know why and what I can do to stop this? The column formats in each spreadsheet are the same, and pasting the 'values only' doesn't seem to matter. The spreadsheet I'm pasting to isn't mine, but I can't find any wonky formulas or anything to explain the problem.

Thanks in advance!

You might be experiencing this: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/214330

Although in this case, it would be 4 years off, not just one day.

:think2:

xpanda said:

Anybody know why and what I can do to stop this? The column formats in each spreadsheet are the same, and pasting the 'values only' doesn't seem to matter. The spreadsheet I'm pasting to isn't mine, but I can't find any wonky formulas or anything to explain the problem.

Click to expand...

To eliminate potential causes, what happens when you copy the "values" (07/30/07) into Notepad, and then paste into the 2nd spreadsheet from Notepad?

The fact you say "pasting the values only" (Paste Special... window) doesn't seem to matter" is quite puzzling. So just to humor me & others here, let us know if Notepad as the 3rd party (stripping of all other formatting possible) helps with the pasting of values into the 2nd spreadsheet.

* CalvinTy

<TABLE class=OTbl cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=0 width="100%"><TBODY><TR><TD class=cdOTATtl width="100%">DATE </TD><TD style="PADDING-RIGHT: 0px; PADDING-LEFT: 12px; PADDING-BOTTOM: 0px; PADDING-TOP: 0px"></TD><TR><TD class=ACB style="PADDING-RIGHT: 12px; PADDING-LEFT: 12px; PADDING-BOTTOM: 10px; PADDING-TOP: 10px" width="100%" colSpan=3><!--csasset date="2005-09-27"--><!--cstransform awsenduser.xsl date 2005-09-07 --><!--csautotext date 2005-10-14 number --><!--csglossary date 2005-10-14 number --><!--csglobalstrings date 2005-08-29 number --><!-- defs in --><!-- META NAME="lcid" CONTENT="1033" -->Returns the sequential serial number that represents a particular date. If the cell format was General before the function was entered, the result is formatted as a date.
Syntax
DATE(year,month,day)
Year The year argument can be one to four digits. Microsoft Excel interprets the year argument according to the date system you are using. By default, Excel for Windows uses the 1900 date system; Excel for the Macintosh uses the 1904 date system.
For the 1900 date system

• If year is between 0 (zero) and 1899 (inclusive), Excel adds that value to 1900 to calculate the year. For example, <CODE>DATE(108,1,2)</CODE> returns January 2, 2008 (1900+108).
• If year is between 1900 and 9999 (inclusive), Excel uses that value as the year. For example, <CODE>DATE(2008,1,2)</CODE> returns January 2, 2008.
• If year is less than 0 or is 10000 or greater, Excel returns the #NUM! error value.

For the 1904 date system

• If year is between 4 and 1899 (inclusive), Excel adds that value to 1900 to calculate the year. For example, <CODE>DATE(108,1,2)</CODE> returns January 2, 2008 (1900+108).
• If year is between 1904 and 9999 (inclusive), Excel uses that value as the year. For example, <CODE>DATE(2008,1,2)</CODE> returns January 2, 2008.
• If year is less than 4 or is 10000 or greater or if year is between 1900 and 1903 (inclusive), Excel returns the #NUM! error value.

Month is a positive or negative integer representing the month of the year from 1 to 12 (January to December).

• If month is greater than 12, month adds that number of months to the first month in the year specified. For example, <CODE>DATE(2008,14,2)</CODE> returns the serial number representing February 2, 2009.
• If month is less than 1, month subtracts that number of months plus 1 from the first month in the year specified. For example, <CODE>DATE(2008,-3,2)</CODE> returns the serial number representing September 2, 2007.

Day is a positive or negative integer representing the day of the month from 1 to 31.

• If day is greater than the number of days in the month specified, day adds that number of days to the first day in the month. For example, <CODE>DATE(2008,1,35)</CODE> returns the serial number representing February 4, 2008.
• If day is less than 1, day subtracts that number of days plus one from the first day in the month. For example, <CODE>DATE(2008,1,-15)</CODE> returns the serial number representing December 16, 2007.

Remarks

• Excel stores dates as sequential serial numbers so they can be used in calculations. By default, January 1, 1900 is serial number 1, and January 1, 2008 is serial number 39448 because it is 39,448 days after January 1, 1900. Excel for the Macintosh uses a different date system as its default.
• The DATE function is most useful in formulas where year, month, and day are formulas, not constants.

</TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>


there that is perfectly simple:nohead:

Matt Rain said:

You might be experiencing this: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/214330

Although in this case, it would be 4 years off, not just one day.

:think2:

Click to expand...

That was it! I didn't even notice that the year was showing /03.

Thank you thank you thank you ... would've taken me hours to fix this manually.

Cheers!

xpanda said:

That was it! I didn't even notice that the year was showing /03.

Thank you thank you thank you ... would've taken me hours to fix this manually.

Cheers!

Click to expand...

Glad to know the problem is resolved! Guess it was that answer in that KB article after all:

"If two workbooks use different date systems, you may encounter problems when you link or copy dates between workbooks. Specifically, the dates may be shifted by four years and one day."

Didn't think it was the issue when you mentioned it was already showing the year as "07". As long as everything is fixed! :aktion033

* CalvinTy