Thank you both for your help

David

"JE McGimpsey" wrote:

> Dates in XL are stored as integer offsets from a base date (by default,
> 12/31/1899 in the 1900 date system).
>
> So
>
> =TODAY()
>
> returns the value 38369 (try formatting the cell as General).
> MONTH(TODAY()) returns the month number for the serial date 38369, or 1.
> Month(TODAY()+45) returns the mont for the serial date 38414, or 3.
>
> But when you format 3 as a date ("mmm"), XL interprets the 3 to mean 3
> days after 12/31/1899 or 1/3/1900, so returns "Jan".
>
> If you want to display "Mar", use the formula
>
> =TODAY() + 45
>
> and format it as "mmm"
>
>
>
> In article <6A6CB7B8-3898-4412-A528-6E7E76A35BA1@microsoft.com>,
> Compass Rose <CompassRose@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote:
>
> > When I enter the formula =MONTH(TODAY()) and the cell formatting is set to
> > General, the cell contains a 1.
> > When I change the cell formatting to Custom "mmm", the cell displays "Jan".
> > So far, so good.
> > When I enter the formula =MONTH(TODAY())+3 and the cell formatting is set to
> > General, the cell contains a 4. I would assume that this is the correct
> > formula for showing the month which is 3 months hence. When I change the
> > formatting to Custom "mmm", I would expect the cell to contain "Apr", but it
> > doesn't. It still displays "Jan".
> > When I enter the formula =MONTH(TODAY()+45) and the cell formatting is set
> > to General, the cell contains a 3. I would assume that this is the correct
> > formula for showing the month which is 45 days hence. When I change the
> > formatting to Custom "mmm", I would expect the cell to contain "Mar", but it
> > doesn't. It still displays "Jan".
>