Date change format question

[kenyon316]

Hey I have what I hope is an easy question.

I have a number of dates implemented that are in this format June 13, 1986.
I need these same dates to be in this format dd-mm-yyyy. I am using DATEDIF and it seems to only recognize the format above. I have tried using format cells but it does not change the date.

Any Ideas?

 

[Zack Barresse]

why don't you custom format those cells w/ dates in them to dd-mm-yyyy?

do you need the difference in just days between the dates?

 

[kenyon316]

I have tried doing that as well as other formats but the date does not change. I am using the DATEDIF to calculate age.
So I use =DATEDIF(A2,TODAY(),"y")

This formula only works with the date in the dd-mm-yyyy format.

 

[Iridium]

Check out http://www.cpearson.com/excel/datedif.htm#Age

Example for my age:

Book1
	A	B	C	D
1	07/09/1972	31years,4months,22days
Sheet1

HTH

 

[Zack Barresse]

if you need exact age, try:
="Age is "&DATEDIF(A2,TODAY(),"y")&" Years, "&DATEDIF(A2,TODAY(),"ym")&" Months and "&DATEDIF(A2,TODAY(),"md")&" Days"

presented by Phantom1975 at his website w/ xlfdic.xls (good stuff)

if you need just years, use:
="Age is "&DATEDIF(A2,TODAY(),"y")&" Years

 

[kenyon316]

Yes I understand how the formula works but I have just been given a number of dates that are like this (Jan 14, 1998). If I change them manually to this format dd-mm-yyyy, they work fine. My question is can I change all these at once or do I have to do each one manually. I would rather not as I have been given 300 dates hehe. I have tried format cells but the date does not change.

-Open New Excel sheet.
-Type in June 12, 1998
-It should automatically be in General Format.
-Now try and change it to the dd-mm-yyyy format.
-The date will not change.

This is where my problem is?