XL: Changing the Date or Time Format in a Header or Footer

ID: Q94870

The information in this article applies to:

Microsoft Excel 97 for Windows
Microsoft Excel for Windows 95, versions 7.0, 7.0a
Microsoft Excel for Windows, versions 2.x, 3.x, 4.x, 5.0, 5.0c
Microsoft Excel 98 Macintosh Edition
Microsoft Excel for the Macintosh, versions 2.2, 3.x, 4.x, 5.0, 5.0a

SUMMARY

In Microsoft Excel, when you use the date code (&D) to enter the date in the header or footer of a document, the date appears in the default MM/DD/YY format. The time code (&T) will default to the H:MM AM/PM format.

These date and time formats are based on the date and time settings in the Control Panel both for the Macintosh operating system and for versions 3.0 and later of Microsoft Windows.

If you change the format in the Date and Time settings on the Macintosh, you still have only short dates (5/20/94) and not long dates (May 20, 1994).

MORE INFORMATION

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   http://www.microsoft.com/support/supportnet/refguide/

To use a date or time format other than the default, do one of the following:

Enter the date or time manually in a different format.
```
    -or-
```
Create a macro to change the format.
```
    -or-
```
Change the short date or time format in Control Panel (when using System 7.1 on the Macintosh this can be done by using the Date And Time Control Panel, or in Windows 3.0 or later this can be done by using the International Control Panel). Note that the formatting change only applies to short dates, the long date format will not be used in the header or footer.

NOTE: If you are using a version of the Macintosh operating system prior to System 7.1, the date format cannot be modified, and the time can only be changed between a 12 and 24 hour clock by using the General Control Panel.

Macro Code to Change the Format

Visual Basic, Applications Edition:

The following macro code places the current date in the footer in the "mmmm d yyyy" format.

   ActiveSheet.PageSetup.LeftFooter = Format(Now, "mmmm d yyyy")

Microsoft Excel 4.0 Macro Language:

The following macro code places the current date in the footer in the "dd-mm-yy" format.

   =PAGE.SETUP(,TEXT(NOW(),"dd-mm-yy"))
   =RETURN()

For additional information about getting help with Visual Basic for Applications, please see the following article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

   ARTICLE-ID: Q163435
   TITLE     : VBA: Programming Resources for Visual Basic for
               Applications

Additional query words: 98 97 5.00 7.00 2.00 2.01 2.10 2.20 3.00 4.00 custom customized XL98 XL97 XL7 XL5 XL4 XL3

Keywords          : kbmacro kbprg kbdta kbdtacode PgmOthr KbVBA 
Version           : MACINTOSH:2.2,3.0,4.0,5.0,98; WINDOWS:3.2,3.0,4.0,5.0.7.0,97
Platform          : MACINTOSH WINDOWS
Issue type        : kbhowto

Last Reviewed: May 17, 1999