Changing the Date Format

I have a spreadsheet that has a column of dates in the format yyyymmdd, and i
need to change them to mmddyy format, but when i use the usual right click/
format cells/ date, or if i go to the tool bars at the top of the page under
format/ cells/ date, nothing happens, and the date format remains the same.
Is there any way to get the date into the right format? Do i need a special,
custom equation to do this?
--
Amanda

Hi

It's because they are probably strings. Were they numbers, after formatting
you'd got ######### in cell.

You can use date formats with dates, like "yyyy-mm-dd", or "dd.mm.yyyy", or
"dd. mmmm yyyy" etc.

Dates in Excel are counted from 1. January 1900. P.e. todays date
(08.09.2004) is really an integer 38238, and this real value doesn't change
with formatting.

To your problem - you have to use a formula in helper column. P.e. with date
in A2:
=MID(A2,5,2) & RIGHT(A2,2) & MID(A2,3,2)


--
Arvi Laanemets
(When sending e-mail, use address arvilAttarkon.ee)



"xtian_princess" wrote in message
...
I have a spreadsheet that has a column of dates in the format yyyymmdd,
and i
need to change them to mmddyy format, but when i use the usual right
click/
format cells/ date, or if i go to the tool bars at the top of the page
under
format/ cells/ date, nothing happens, and the date format remains the
same.
Is there any way to get the date into the right format? Do i need a
special,
custom equation to do this?
--
Amanda