# Office 365 >  >  The way I entered date

## barblb

I have my date formatted for November 30, 2019 on my invoice.  I used to be able to just enter 11/30/19 and it would come up as the formatted date that I want (November 30, 2019).  Now if I enter 11/30/19 it comes up as June 7, 2209.  What's happening?

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## 6StringJazzer

I don't know what you are doing but the date June 7, 2209, is stored in Excel as the number 113019. So if you are typing 11/30/19 somehow the "/' characters are being ignored. Next time you type 11/30/19 look carefully at what you typed before you hit ENTER.

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## barblb

OK so now I CAREFULLY entered 11/30/19 with the ///  and it comes up as 11/30/19 even though I formatted it to be November 30, 2019.  I never had this problem with my older version of excel, I shouldn't have to type the date in.

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## 6StringJazzer

This is not normal. Can you please attach your file? The paper clip icon does not work for attachments. To attach a file, under the text box where you type your reply click the Go Advanced button. On the next screen scroll down and click on Manage Attachments, which will show a pop-up window to Select and Upload a file. Then close the window.

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## MrShorty

Is it possible this is due to a change in the Window's date setting? https://www.howtogeek.com/247141/how...es-in-windows/ Has your Window's default date format setting recently changed, and Excel is using your OS setting to understand default date entry?

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## barblb

It is possible,;however, I have tried on two different computers.  on the bottom of one of the computer's screen the date shows as 12/16/2019  and on the other computer screen it shows as 16-Dec-2019.  What do you suggest I change it to? Right now the short date is mm-dd-yyy and the long date is same format Thanks

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## barblb

Here is a sample invoice i've attached

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## MrShorty

I don't replicate the issue. I can enter 11/30/19 in D4 (or anywhere else in the spreadsheet) and it correctly stores the date as serial number 43799 (the serial number for 30 November 2019). Is there more to replicating the issue? If I change my OS settings to a different short date format, then the spreadsheet no longer recognizes 11/30/19 as a date, but enters it as that exact text string. I cannot replicate the issue where I enter 11/30/19 and get some date way in the future.

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## barblb

What short format was your date on?  I am stumped, I've never had this happen before.  It's strange because I got a new laptop and thought maybe that was why, but the same thing is happening on my old desktop. ???? HELP  LOL

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## MrShorty

I chose one of those that used dashes "yyyy-m-d"

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## barblb

I just tried that I get January 31, 2237.  Could it be a recent update that I downloaded may have screwed things up for me?

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## MrShorty

I'm running Excel 2007 under Windows 7, so I am just a couple of weeks away from being a totally out of date outcast. I have no idea what any recent updates to Office or Windows may have done.

I don't know exactly what you tried, but 31 Jan 2237 is serial number 123119. Maybe you tried entering 31 Dec 2019? 

I do not recall ever having this kind of trouble where Excel ignores a date separator and enters the number like you are describing. In my experience, when I use a date separator that Excel recognizes, then it enters the date. If you use a date separator that Excel does not recognize, then it treats the entry as text. I do no have any experience where Excel just ignores the date separator and enters the number as if not separator had been used.

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## barblb

My apologies, I think I entered it without the slashes again.  When I enter 12/31/19 that's exactly what comes up whereas before it would come up as December 31, 2019
That is the format I have set up for that cell.  And I did this on my old desktop which has windows 7 as well.  LOL  I'm not giving up.  Thanks for trying.

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## 6StringJazzer

Are you talking about entering the date in cell D4? I type in 12/31/19 or any other date is it comes up as December 31, 2019, or whatever the date is. When I first opened the file it correctly displayed a date of November 30, 2019, before I did anything.

You have got some issue that is specific to your computer, rather than a problem with this file. Try creating a new clean file and just type in 12/31/19 into any cell (do not format anything!) and see what happens.

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## protonLeah

what does D4 show when you key *ctrl*+*;*
what does D4 show if you type =Today() in it?

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## barblb

ctrl+; shows 12/18/2018
so does =today()

For some reason I think it is working now I just enter 11/30 and it shows November 30, 2019

I tried a few things I found on the internet.  Thanks

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