Date format with Data Export?

[Natalie]

Hi,

While we are talking about things that donb't quite add up, when you export data to excel, the date format is inconsistent.

As you can see from the picture it changes. I've done nothing whatsoever to format this in excel yet, and with it already being like that it is really difficult to format into something consistently the same and then use in formulas...

Any chance of standardising this - either will do as long as it is the same through out the data.

Many thanks

Natalie

[ACM]

Natalie
Does that problem always appear around the same dates such as for example the 12th and 13th of a month?
That could be related to the date formats on the computer if set differently from the US standard mmddyyyy
Just an idea.
Alex

[Natalie]

yes - start of the month is always the first format and then around the middle it changes over as shown, then the start of the next month it reverts back again.

Kind regards

Natalie

[ACM]

Natalie
That has to do with the Date in Regional Settings of Windows which in your case is probably set to ddmmyyyy.
In the image you posted Excel reads 8/12/2003 as 8th of December and formats it as a date but then cannot recognize 8/13/2003 and formats it as text (which is why it is left aligned). Once the month begins Excel recognizes a date again and reformats the cell appropriately.
Alex

[Natalie]

Bingo

Changing the date format worked - I've set a custom date format to US standard...

Many thanks

Natalie