Formats changing to DATE without reason

[davidsosis]

I am working with several excel sheets. 50 percent of the time, when I reopen the sheet, all the cells are in DATE FORMAT. I have taken the entire workbook (12 sheets in workbook) and insured that no cells are dates. I formatted them as General or Percent. STILL, I just re-opened the workbook to make adjustments in data and found that it was back to Date Format.

Does anyone have an idea why this is happening? I've had two workbooks do this to me.

Please HELP!!!

 

[Joe4]

Are you saving your formatting changes after making them?
What is the extension on these Excel files?

 

[davidsosis]

First, let me appoligize for posting this question twice. I didn't think the first posting took.

To answer your follow-up questions:
1. Yes, I am saving the format changes. Several Times!!!
2. The file extension is *.xlsx (Excel 2007).

Thanks

 

[Joe4]

Can you provide some examples as to the contents of these cells that have this issue? I will try to recreate here myself.

By the way, if you go to the Quick Links drop-down menu, and select Subscribed Threads, this should show you all threads that you have posted to. So you can use this to easily locate your threads.

 

[davidsosis]

I just opened the sheet to give you an example of the data when IT DID IT AGAIN!!! UGGGG.

I have four columns - Name, RSID, DOS, Remarks.
The info in these columns are text, and are as follows:

Jones John, NJAA, 20100815, Shipped
Smith Pat, NJBC, 20100728, NS-Legal
Lee David, NJCA, 20100519, SHIPPED-STO 2

Thanks for the help,
Dave

 

[Joe4]

OK. I can't seem to reproduce the behavior you are explaining.
I have some follow-up questions.

- These are definitely Excel files, and not CSV or DBF files, right?
- Where these worksheets originally created in Excel, or created in something else and converted or exported to Excel?
- How exactly are you changing the format of the cell (steps)?
- If you click on one of the cells, what value does it show in the formula box?
- Are other changes you are making being saved, i.e. if you add or change some entry somewhere, do you see that change when you re-open the workbook (want to make sure that there isn't something preventing you from saving changes)?

 

[davidsosis]

To answer your questions:<?xml:namespace prefix = o ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-comfficeffice" /><o></o>
1. These are definitely Excel files, and not CSV or DBF files, right?<o></o>
A. They are most definitely Excel Files.<o></o>
<o></o>
2. Where these worksheets originally created in Excel, or created in something else and converted or exported to Excel?
A. They were created in Excel. I created them myself. All data was inputted into a blank sheet after creation.<o></o>
<o></o>
3. How exactly are you changing the format of the cell (steps)?<o></o>
A. I am selecting the "Select All" square in the upper left (selecting the entire sheet). I then right click and select "Format Cells". At this point, I see that the whole sheet is in Date Format. I select "General" and click OK. I then select the cells I require to be Percent and change their format the same way to Percent (2 dec places). I then select "SAVE".<o></o>
<o></o>
4. Are other changes you are making being saved, i.e. if you add or change some entry somewhere, do you see that change when you re-open the workbook (want to make sure that there isn't something preventing you from saving changes)? <o></o>
A. Yes, data entry is being saved. It is only the cell formatting that isn't saving.<o></o>
<o></o>
I need to check with my superiors, but I believe I can send you a copy of the sheet in question. There is no sensitive info (i.e. Social Security, Phone, etc...). I just don't know how to send it to you without giving the world "MY" email address - lol.<o></o>
<o></o>
Thanks again,<o></o>
Dave<o></o>

 

[Joe4]

You missed one question:

- If you click on one of the cells, what value does it show in the formula box?

I need to check with my superiors, but I believe I can send you a copy of the sheet in question. There is no sensitive info (i.e. Social Security, Phone, etc...). I just don't know how to send it to you without giving the world "MY" email address - lol.

Let's save this as a last resort. I generally do not like to receive or download files from the internet anyhow. By the way, if you ever need to exchange email addresses, send the person a Private Message with it in it. That way no one else can see it and you will be safe from Spammers.

 

[davidsosis]

Sorry about that. Missed that question.

When you click on the cell, it will show the data that is in the cell (20080512). When you look at it though (if it's in date format), the cell shows #######.

Formula bar shows 20080512 / Cell shows ########

Thanks (and I'll check for your response in the morning - going home now).

Dave

 

[Joe4]

Hmmm... This is mind-boggling.

I have not heard of this happening, and I cannot recreate the problem myself. I'll reach out to some fellow friends and see if they have ever heard of such a thing.