Pasting dates from one spreadsheet to another

[Cathy]

Hi there

I have inherited an excel database which includes columns with dates. When
I copy the columns and paste them into another file, the dates do not copy
properly -

For example:
07/07/1984 becomes 06/07/1980 and 02/07/07 becomes 01/07/03

I have tried going into paste special and pasting "values" only but this
does not work. Does anyone know why this happens and how to solve the
problem?

thanks a million

Cathy

 

[Dave Peterson]

Saved from a previous post:

One workbook was using a base year of 1900 and the other was using 1904.
(tools|options|calculation tab|1904 date system)

One way to add those four years back is to find an empty cell, put 1462 into
that cell.

Copy that cell.

Select your range that contains the dates.
Edit|PasteSpecial|Click Add (or Subtract) depending on which workbook you want
to fix.

You may have to reformat the cell as a date (mine turned to a 5 digit number).
But it should work.

You may want to do it against a copy...just in case.

Most windows users use 1900 as the base date. Mac users (mostly??) use 1904 as
the base date.

 

[CLR]

Sounds like the "Date systems" are different between the two
workbooks........check out Tools > Options > CalculationTAB .....shee if the
1904 box is checked or not....they should match to get a straight across copy


Vaya con Dios,
Chuck, CABGx3