Change Excel cell format date type examples ("14-Mar-01")

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Guest

Formatting:
A detail which makes the response to the user "not exact/unique":
Take the following path in any cell: Format / Number / Date / Type
Say you have a “single digit†date; example: 3-May-05.
Choose the first of two : “14-Mar-01†what will the format be?
Choose the second, identical: “14-Mar-01â€, what will the format be?
50%-50% chance one of them will give you a leading zero, the other will
suppress the zero. The user finds out after he executes the formatting, not
before.

Shouldn’t we use more explicit examples such as: “ 4-Mar-01†and
“04-Mar-01†?


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1) Actually, I think you'll find that the formats are "sorted" (within
groupings) by increasing # of characters: 1st example has no leading zero,
2nd example does. I've always found that to be pretty consistent. The list
isn't especially random.
2) While your " 4-Mar-01" and "04-Mar-01" would work for formats that
include text, 4-03-01 and 04-03-01 would raise the question "Which is the
day and which is the month?" (i.e., there is a reason one of the numbers in
the "type" samples is always greater than 12, and thus can't show leading
zeros in the example).
3) "The user finds out after he executes the formatting, not before." Huh?
There is a "sample" box in that dialog that shows exactly how the value in
the currently selected cell would appear with the currently selected format,
before the user exits the dialog and "executes" anything.

HTH,
 
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