Since all Excel functions that change text to date return a number as a result, let's have a closer look at converting numbers to dates first.Īs you probably know, Excel stores dates and times as serial numbers and it is only a cell's formatting that forces a number to be displayed as a date. There may be a leading apostrophe visible in the formula bar.If several text dates are selected, the Status Bar only shows Count.General format displays in the Number Format box on the Home tab > Number.If several dates are selected, the Status Bar shows Average, Count and SUM.Have Date format in the Number Format box on the Home tab > Number.There are a few signs that can help you determine whether a given entry is a date or a text value. Microsoft Excel treats such entries as text, meaning you cannot sort your table by date properly, nor can you use those 'text dates' in formulas, PivotTables, charts or any other Excel tool that recognizes dates. The imported entries may look like normal Excel dates to you, but they don't behave like dates. When importing data into Excel, there is often a problem with date formatting. How to distinguish normal Excel dates from 'text dates' How to change text to date in Excel an easy way.Converting text strings with custom delimiters.There are many ways to convert text to date in Excel and this tutorial aims to cover them all, so that you can choose a text-to-date conversion technique most suitable for your data format and your preference for a formula or non-formula way. Even though they look like dates, Excel won't not recognize them as such. When that happens, chances are the dates will export as text entries. Since Excel is not the only application you work with, sometimes you'll find yourself working with dates imported in an Excel worksheet from a. You will also learn how to quickly change a number to date format. The tutorial explains how to use Excel functions to convert text to date and number to date, and how to turn text strings into dates in a non-formula way.

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