Changing Excel's Starting Date

Summary: How to change the arbitrary date used to set the beginning point for serial numbers in Excel. (This tip works with Microsoft Excel 97, Excel 2000, Excel 2002, and Excel 2003.)

Excel allows you to choose which arbitrary date you use as the beginning point for serial numbers. In the PC world, this date is January 1, 1900. If you are working with Excel workbooks imported from the Macintosh environment, however, you will want to set the starting date to January 2, 1904--the date used on the Mac. To set which of these two dates is used, follow these steps:

Choose Options from the Tools menu. Excel displays the Options dialog box.
Make sure the Calculation tab is selected. (Click here to see a related figure.)

The 1904 Date System check box controls which dating system is used. If the check box is not selected, then the January 1, 1900 starting date is used; if it is selected, then January 2, 1904 is used.

ExcelTips is your source for cost-effective Microsoft Excel training. This tip (2817) applies to Microsoft Excel versions: 97 | 2000 | 2002 | 2003

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Changing Excel's Starting Date