Graph Changes Cell Formatting to Date Format

ID: Q88574

The information in this article applies to:

Microsoft Graph, versions 3.0, 3.0a, 3.0b, 5.0
Microsoft Windows operating system versions 3.0 and 3.1

SUMMARY

Microsoft Graph changes formatting in a cell to date format if you type a string that contains the following elements:

A number from 1 to 12
-and-
A forward slash (/) or hyphen (-)
-and-
A number from 0 to 99

MORE INFORMATION

For example, if you type "5/3" or "5-3" (without the quotation marks) in a cell, Graph displays "May-3." If you change the format to General, Graph displays "33727," which is the serial number of the date (5/3/92) in the 1900 date system. Graph changes the cell format to "d-mmm" date format regardless of what number formatting you apply to the cell.

This also occurs if you paste a Word for Windows table into Microsoft Graph.

Microsoft Graph does not change the cell formatting if the first number in the string is zero (0) or greater than 12, or if the second number is greater than 99.

WORKAROUND

Type a space at the beginning of the cell entry, such as " 2/12."
-or-
Change the cell format to "m/d" or "m-d" date format.

Microsoft has confirmed this to be a problem in the versions listed at the beginning of this article. We are researching this problem and will post new information here as it becomes available.

KBCategory: kbtool KBSubcategory:

Additional reference words: 3.00 3.00a 3.00b 5.00 msgraph applet ole server linking embedding object insert

Last Reviewed: September 9, 1996