Dates in Excel97

**Zolly** · 10-15-2007, 01:55 AM

Hi I am trying to enter dates into a genealogy spreadsheet formatted as dd/mmm/yyyy so that I can use the sorting tool to sort them at a later date. The trouble is that the dates range from around 1560 up to around 1800 and when I enter the date 12/03/1675 thats how it stays and the sort seems to sort the first numbers not the year. Can anybody help. I am using MS Excel97
Thanks Zolly

**tuph** · 10-15-2007, 02:29 AM

Excel stores dates as integers and starts at January 1, 1900 as day 1. This means it doesn't recognise anything prior as a date.

Have you tried using genealogy software instead of Excel? It will do lots more for you than a basic spreadsheet. Personal Ancestral File (PAF) is free to download at http://www.lsd.org then click on the Family History link.

**martindwilson** · 10-15-2007, 05:48 AM

there is a free add in here for earlier dates
http://j-walk.com/ss//excel/files/xdate.htm

**daddylonglegs** · 10-15-2007, 08:17 AM

if it's just a sorting issue and you don't need to do calculations with the dates consider inputting the dates as numbers like yyyymmdd, so the 2nd March 1763 would be

17630302

custom format cells as 0000-00-00 to make "dates" easier to read