Question
Hello RICHARD,

I'm running Office 2003. In Excel, if someone sends me dates that are formatted in this manner: 20041225 (year, month, date) is there a way to convert this to look like 12/25/2004. I need to do this on a large scale. I would hate to have to do this one cell at a time.

Any help would be grateful!

Answer
Jerry

Since the formatting that you have, 20041225, isn't an accepted date format in excel 2003, we won't simply be able to reformat the cells to the 12/25/04 date format. However we can use a methods to change the numbers so that they are in an acceptable date format.

First--you can use text to columns to separate the number into 4 columns, with 20 in the first column, 04 in the second column, 12 in the third column, and 25 in the fourth column.

Second you can then use a concatenate type formula to reassemble the number the way you want it to look. for example.

=+C1&F1&D1&F1&G1&B1

Here is what we did
Used text to columns on the number as input into cell A1 to separate the number into 4 columns they were 20,4,12,25
in columns A,B,C,D respectfully. Go to toolbar/text to columns/pick fixed width in the next window and click where you want the number separated then clic next, then clic finish. This will separate the number, and you can do a wholde column of numbers at once.

Then use the formula
=+C1&F1&D1&F1&G1&B1

to put them back together in the order you want. Note that in cell F1 I placed the backslash '/ and in cell G1 I placed a zero. The zero will have to be added back in front of the 4, because it is lost when converted to columns.

As mentioned, you can get a low-resolution e-book version of my new book, Learn Excel 97-2007 from MrExcel. This is the complete book. It is in low resolution, so it will appear fine on your computer monitor. It is not suitable for printing.