Excel How to change the "Short Date" format in Excel?

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Stefano Gatto

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Hello,

For some unknown reason, the "Short Date" format in my Excel installation changed some months ago.
When I type 8/11 into the cell of a new worksheet, i get "08 11 2015" displayed. This format corresponds to the "Short Date" format in Excel, as you can see below.

However I never wanted this, as I prefer "8-Nov-15" to avoid confusion with USA standards.

The asterisk tells that the format derives from the OS. This is not true as my OS says "ddd d-mmm-yyyy" as you can see below. So it DOES NOT derive from the OS.

Can someone explain this strange thing and how I can align them again, or at least set it back to "d-mmm-yyyy"?

Just to make sure: I need to change the "Short Date" format and not the format of just one particular cell...! So I find it back as I want it, tomorrow when I start Windows again :)

Thank you,
Stefano Gatto
Geneva, Switzerland

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Last edited:
I read the web page you pointed me to, but did not find an answer to my question.
I am trying to change the default date format of Excel not the format of a particular cell..
Thank you anyway.
 
I don't know of a way you can change the default date settings unfortunately, but as an alternative you could create the settings you want in a blank workbook and then save that workbook as a template? Then in future, if you create a new workbook from that template, you should have the formatting you want to start with.
 
ok thank you for your answer.
Meanwhile I was told that this problem is due to the fact that the Short Date in Excel is "dd mm yyyy" because I have set the "Short Date" in Windows composed with letters and not only numbers (ie. "Sat 13-Jan-2011" contains 3 letters).
When I remove letters from the "Short Date" in Windows, then I get "d/m/yyyy" back in Excel without doing anything in Excel.
This is strange but it's the way it is. Apparently Excel cannot handle letters in its "short date" format!

Give it a try, you do not need to restart Excel every time you change the Windows short date, it will refresh by itself!
 
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