Comments on: How to change date format in Excel and create custom formatting

The first part of our tutorial focuses of formatting dates in Excel and explains how to set the default date and time formats, how to change date format in Excel, how to create custom date formatting, and convert your dates to another locale. Continue reading →

Comments page 12. Total comments: 940

  1. I want to covert 1421020800000 value in date please help me

  2. Dear sir
    here i got data like 07-05-20 1:58 is 5th july 2020 and next colum
    6/28/2020 8:25:27 PM june 28 2020 how to change by order..

    1. Hello!
      I’m sorry but your task is not entirely clear to me. Could you please describe it in more detail? Thank you!

  3. Hello Sir,
    I have a whole sheet of Excel Data. In that, there a couple of columns where the dates are shown in the format, for eg (10 Dec 1990). I want to change that to the format as 10-12-1990. I tried Format cells and it worked on 1 cell.
    Is it possible to apply it to the entire column at once?? Apply that formula to the entire column of the worksheet?? It might take me ages to change the date format in each and every cell.

    1. Hello Neha!
      Click on the column heading (letter). The entire column will be highlighted. After that, set the desired custom format in the same way as the format of one cell.

  4. Hello Team,
    Kudos on writing such a detailed and descriptive tutorial on this topic. It was really helpful.
    My question is regarding the topic "Creating a custom date format in Excel"
    I am able to create a custom format however it only remains in the Excel file I was working on.
    Is it possible to save that custom format so that its available as an option in any Excel file I work on? I just need this as an additional option and don't want to change the default date formats.
    Thanks.

    1. Hello Rajiv!
      You can save the workbook with your custom format as an Excel template. Then, based on this template, you will be able to create new files. Read about Excel templates in this guide.

  5. Hi!
    I want to change USA date format to UK date format in Excel. How can I do it? Please let me know it as soon as possible.
    Thanks.

  6. Hello, I'm looking for a rather unique situation with dates in excel and uploading the spreadsheet to a e-commerce website with valid information.

    I currently have a heap of information in a .xlsx file and all works well except for date formatting. I have =NOW() which returns today's date in 25/06/2020. But when I copy the page and paste the values into a .csv file for upload it converts it to 44007.7716459491.

    The other issue is the site will not accept 25/06/2020 as a valid date format but it will accept 25.06.2020.

    Is there an easy formula to produce 25.06.2020 as an auto date, then also create another auto date +30 days in the same 25.07.2020 format?

    Or will I have to create different cells generating the date(A1), month(A2) and year(A3) and then combine them in the cell like =A1&"."&B1&"."&C1 ?

  7. HI,
    I need to change the date time 6/18/2020 10:09:53 AM format to "Jun-20"
    I tried using format cells option but its not working.
    pls advise
    Thanks.

    1. Hello!
      It is not possible to change the date format so that it appears in the cell instead of June 18 June 20. For this, formulas are used. But to display “Jun-18” instead of “6/18/2020 10:09:53 AM”, use the custom date format “mmm-dd”

  8. I'm on the fence about this, while more customization is good, I have a feeling this is a "in-progress" update, it just feels incomplete and half-way there.
    We use badge layout for apps on design approvals (visual projects), so the image being displayed is important. Old layout "feels like" it had larger images,
    maybe because the images were cropped more loosely so it's easier to tell which project it was at quick glance. Now the image is cropped closer, making it
    harder to scan thru at quick glance. I find myself needing to click into the project more often than usual. Which makes the whole user experience less
    efficient.
    I have a couple suggestions that might make it work better:
    1. Increase the height of the window the cover image is being displayed.
    2. Let us to choose which image to be displayed as "cover" (like how Pinterest handles cover images of each board, was hoping for this for a long time)
    3. Let us adjust which part of the image to show and how tight or loose the crop is (with a fixed window, let us move the image around and maybe enlarge or
    shrink it to control what shows thru the window. Pinterest does a limited form of this, which is very useful in making the cover image relevant)
    4. Allow Cover Image to be ordered in different hierarchy (currently every element can be ordered differently except the Cover Image, it seems to be stuck
    in the 2nd spot, would like the option to set it on another spot in the layout. This one seems like an easy fix, since you guys allow that for every other
    element already)

  9. I need to calculate negative days for calculating dates. When I use this formula =DATEDIF(A1, TODAY(), "d") and A1 is 6/22/2020 but TODAY is 6/19/2020 the calculation cell shows #NUM! but I need it to show -3. Can't figure out the formula. Any help would be great.

    1. Hello Stan!
      You do not need to change the date format. You need to add the condition to the formula.
      If I understand your task correctly, the following formula should work for you:

      =IF(A1>TODAY(),-DATEDIF(TODAY(),A1,"d"),DATEDIF(A1, TODAY(),"d"))

      I hope my advice will help you solve your task.

  10. Hi, I have two different time with 12 hours format in two cells. The second cell required to covert for 24 hours format and the time difference between the two cell has to written in third cell.

    1. Hello!
      I did not understand what your problem is. To find the time difference between cells, the time format does not matter. The time format affects the appearance of the cell, not its value. Write an example of the source data and the result you want to get.

  11. Hello sir,
    I want to convert 2013.583 to date. Please help me

  12. Sir, I want date separator "-" not "/" I have done almost everything but I am not getting desired results. My date format is dd-mm-yyyy whereas it is showing dd/mm/yyyy. Please help.

    1. Hello Kataria!
      As a date separator symbol, Excel uses the symbol that is specified in Control Panel -> Clock and region -> Region -> Formats -> Additional Settings -> Date and Time formats.

      Or use a custom format:
      Please go to Format Cells, choose Number -> Custom Format and set
      dd-mm-yyyy

    2. Sorry forget to mention I can not insert any formula please.

  13. Hello, can I set the date as below
    01-Mar-Y1
    Y1 indicates 2021.

    Is it possible ?

    1. Hello Aida!
      This date format is not possible. However, you can convert the date to text.
      In this case, you can apply a custom date format. Use the formula

      =TEXT(G1,"dd-mmm-")&"Y"&RIGHT(G1,1)

      I hope my advice will help you solve your task.

  14. Hi
    I have a date issue where by in a cell with text & long date & need to convert into short date by MONTH/DAY/YEAR? This is a two formula process. BELOW IS THE TWO FORMULA'S
    1 = Randwick Saturday, 06 June 2020 =MID(Z6,MIN(IFERROR(MIN(FIND({0,1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9},Z6&"0123456789",1)),LEN(Z6)+1)),LOOKUP(1,0*MID(Z6,ROW(INDIRECT("1:"&LEN(Z6))),1),ROW(INDIRECT("1:"&LEN(Z6))))+1)

    Returns = 06 June 2020

    2 =DATE(RIGHT(Z1,4),RIGHT(LEFT(Z1,2),2),LEFT(Z1,2))
    now converting to MONTH/DAY/YEAR
    = 6/06/1920

    This returns wrong year!
    Any help would be greatly appreciated

    Regards

    Tony

    1. I assume that after the phrase Randwick Saturday, 06 June 2020, you still have a space. As a result, the text 06 June 2020 also has a space, that is, “06 June 2020”.

      I recommend checking this or using a formula with the TRIM function:

      =TRIM(MID(Z6,MIN(IFERROR(MIN( FIND({0,1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9},Z6&"0123456789",1)), LEN(Z6)+1)), LOOKUP(1,0*MID(Z6,ROW(INDIRECT("1:"&LEN(Z6))),1), ROW(INDIRECT("1:"&LEN(Z6))))+1))

      Now the date format function will work correctly.

      1. Hi Alexander
        Sorry I got cut off, but to finish.
        There is a space between all texts & date plus at the end of years as well.
        In the formula there has space in where FIND, LEN & LOOKUP is, so cancel space ,but still didn't work. Tried { } as well.

        Regards

        Tony

        1. Hello!
          I used your formulas and copied the text from your message. As I understand it, the first formula is written in cell Z1.

          =TRIM(MID(Z6, MIN(IFERROR(MIN(FIND({0,1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9},Z6&"0123456789",1)), LEN(Z6)+1)), LOOKUP(1,0*MID(Z6,ROW(INDIRECT("1:"&LEN(Z6))),1), ROW(INDIRECT("1:"&LEN(Z6))))+1))

          My second formula works when the formula is written in Z1

          I noticed that your second formula incorrectly determines the month. Use this formula

          =DATEVALUE(LEFT(Z1,2)&"-"&MID(Z1,4,3)&"-"&RIGHT(Z1,4))

          1. Hi Alexander
            Sorry again, but how do you put month first?
            Month / Day / Year

            Regards

            Tony

            1. Yello again!
              The date display format depends on the regional settings of your Windows and the date format in Excel. Read above in this article about custom date formats.

          2. Hi Alexander
            Works like a dream, thank you.
            One question with the date formula, how does it read the month without the 0 for the 6 month?

            Regards

            Tony

            1. Hello Tony!
              The function reads the first three letters in the name of the month. She receives the text "06-Jun-2020", which is converted to a date using the DATEVALUE function.

      2. Hi Alexander
        I tried the formula but still didn't get the date 6-06-2020.

  15. Hello!
    I am trying to sort my information by year. I already tried the custom format option provided above and it has been applied to all the fields. However, when I go the filter and try to sort the info by year, it will only work on half of the column. It seems as if some of the fields didn't recognize the custom format even though I already made sure that it was applied to all the data. Is there anything I can do?

    1. Hello Karina!
      I can assume that in some cells of your table the date is written as text. Typically, the text in such cells is left-justified, and the real date is right-justified. Check cells that you cannot sort correctly. Read how to convert text to date in this article. I hope my advice will help you solve your task.

  16. Does anyone find it very odd that an extremely common date format like 01-Jan-2020 isn't available unless you add it as a custom dd-mmm-yyyy ?

  17. I would like to change the dates of a whole spreadsheet by only changing the first date, is that possible and can someone help me with the formula please? I would like to change 01.06.2020 and would like the rest of the dates to add 1 more day so I do not have to type the dates everytime I use it for the following month.

    1. Hello!
      If I understand your task correctly, the first date in cell A1. In cell A2 have the formula

      =A1+1

      After that you can copy this formula down along the column.

  18. HAI
    I HAD A PROBLEM IN EXCEL THAT I HAVE TO SUBMIT A REPORT TO OFFICE.
    if I ENTER STARTING TIME AND TOTAL TRIPS DONE IN A DAY ( 5.30AM AND TRIPS DONE 5) SO, HOW TO CALCULATE THE ENDING TIME.
    (Sl.No DATE STARTING TIME END TIME TOTAL TRIPS WARD NO. / AREA FUEL IN TANK FUEL SUPPLIED FUEL CONSUMED BALANCE IN TANK
    1 01-May 5.30 AM 2.30 PM 6 0 50 18 32
    2 02-May 6.30 AM 5.00 PM 0 32 0 32
    3 03-May 5.00 AM 12.30 PM 0 32 0 32
    4 04-May 5.30 AM 1.00 PM 0 32 0 32 )

    IF I CHANGE TRIPS THEN THE ENDING TIME SHOULD BE CHANGE. CAN I GET SOME FORMULA TO DO MY WORK FAST

    1. Hello!
      Please describe your problem in more detail. What exactly do you change on a trip? What determines the end time of a trip? How do you want to calculate it? Write an example of the source data and the result you want to get. It’ll help me understand it better and find a solution for you. Thank you.

  19. Is there a 'switch' for date formats to force uppercase text?
    I am trying to display 'April 2020' (mmmm yyyy) as 'APRIL 2020' without the use of =upper() function as the date needs to be displayed this way in the same cell as it is entered.
    Thanks

    1. Hello Dave!
      You can capitalize the first letter of the month using the "MMMM yyyy" format. You can write the name of the month in capital letters without using formulas using VBA only.

  20. Hi how can I change a field value from "Aug 10 1984 12:00AM" to
    "1984/08/10"(yyyy/mm/dd)
    Normal format "date" is not working

    1. Hello Mel!
      Your value "Aug 10 1984 12:00AM" is the text. Therefore, turning it into a date can only be done using a formula.

      =DATEVALUE(SUBSTITUTE(MID(T1,5,3)&REPLACE(LEFT(T1,11),5,3,"")," ","/")) + TIMEVALUE(RIGHT(SUBSTITUTE(T1,"AM"," AM"),8))

      Please go to Format Cells, choose Number -> Custom Format and set desired format

  21. Hi
    I am adding 10.8 days to a date, and it is returning as 1/18/2020 4:55:54 AM and I cannot use vlookup again this returned date. How do I format the return date to only date? So I can use as only date format for other formulas. Thank you.

    1. Hello Avarma!
      I’m sorry but your task is not entirely clear to me.
      For me to be able to help you better, please describe your task in more detail. Please let me know in more detail what you were trying to find, what formula you used and what problem or error occurred. It’ll help me understand it better and find a solution for you. Thank you.

  22. Hellow Ablebits Team,
    Have Changed the US date format(mm-dd-yy) to English (U K) (dd-mm-yy).Existing dates have changed successfully But with new entries in dd-mm-yy it does work, however it is OK with
    mm-dd-yy entries. What to do to have both entries & display in dd-mm-yy UK format.
    Best Regards
    Abdul Aziz Khan

  23. Hi,
    I am wondering if I have information in mm dd hh:mm:ss yyyy, is it possible to transfer it to yyyy/mm/dd hh:mm:ss.
    Anne

    1. Hello!
      Please go to Format Cells, choose Number -> Custom Format and set
      yyyy/mm/dd hh:mm:ss

      I hope this will help, otherwise please do not hesitate to contact me anytime.

      1. Hi Alexander,
        I have the same issue as Anne, and change the format using the custom format option.

        However, I was wondering if there was any way to make the change as permanent, as every time I open an excel file, I have to change it, and this happens several times a day, so it gets a bit frustrating at times.

        Thanks in advance for your help

        1. Hello Tabish!
          When you enter a date or time in a cell, it displays in the default date and time format. This default format is based on the regional date and time settings specified in the Windows Control Panel and changes when you configure these settings in the Control Panel. Set the format there. I hope it’ll be helpful.

  24. Hi,
    This appears to be a great source of information.
    I have a date with a time as :
    05/12/2020 23:59
    My excel sheet is interpreting as 5 December 2020 23:59 however it is meant to be 12 may 2020 23:59. It is data that is downloaded and both time and date come a single entry in the table I download. is there any way to convert it to be correct. I have now been trying for over 5 hours!!
    help is needed please.
    Best regards,

    David

    1. Hello David!
      Check what date format you have installed on Windows. Go to Control Panel – Time – Region Settings – Change data formats
      I hope this will help, otherwise please do not hesitate to contact me anytime.

      1. Hi,
        Thank you for getting back to me. The problem is that the the website generating the data gas a glitch and is presenting the day and month in reverse. So if it was the 13 May 2020, the cell contains 5/13/2020 but yet the excel sheet thinks it is the 5 of the 13th month which obviously causes problems. They are working ona fix to the site now but i would like to know if there is anything i could do to convert it in the meantime in case they cannot fix the issue.
        Hope to hear from you soon,
        David

        1. Hello David!
          Please try the following formula:

          =DATEVALUE(REPLACE(REPLACE(G1,1,2,MID(G1,4,2)),4,2, LEFT(G1,2))) + TIMEVALUE(REPLACE( REPLACE(G1,1,2,MID(G1,4,2)),4,2,LEFT(G1,2)))

          Please go to Format Cells, choose Number -> Custom Format and set
          dd mmmm yyyy hh:mm:ss
          I hope this will help, otherwise please do not hesitate to contact me anytime.

  25. hi
    i have problem in my excel sheet in date column. I have calendar period column in which date shows like 201810 in which last 2 digits are month and 1st 4 are year. i want to convert in date format like 10-2018. how to do this please help me with this.
    Thank You

    1. Hello Aman!
      Please try the following formula:

      =DATE(LEFT(A13,4),MID(A13,5,2),1)

      Please go to Format Cells, choose Number -> Custom Format and set
      mm-yyyy
      Or instead of the date in the cell, you can write text and not use custom format:

      =TEXT(DATE(LEFT(A13,4),MID(A13,5,2),1),"mm-yyyy")

      I hope it’ll be helpful.

  26. Great info, thx! I have the same question about capitals

  27. Hello Sir.
    How can we format the date using capital letter in excel for example 31 MAY 2020 instead of 31 May 2020?

    1. Hello Willy!
      The date format in Excel does not use capitalization. But you can use the formula

      = UPPER(TEXT(A1,"dd mmmm yyyy"))

      I hope it’ll be helpful.

      1. Hi Sir, your formula really helpful!!.. Thanks

  28. I need Year-Month-Date how to Possible?

    1. Hello Rabiul!
      I hope you have studied the recommendations in the above tutorial. Please let me know in more detail what you were trying to find, what format you used and what problem or error occurred. In that case I will try to help you.

      1. Dear Sir,
        In navigation problems we have situation where we have to find the duration between 2 times, e.g 23:00 and 01:25 then unable to do it

        1. Hello Capt.T.I.Paul!
          If I understand your task correctly, the following formula should work for you:

          =IF(A1 > A2,A2-A1+1,A2-A1)

          where A1 is 23:00 and A2 - 01:25
          I hope this will help, otherwise please do not hesitate to contact me anytime.

  29. Hi, I have entered in excel date as 3/01/2020 but it is displaying as 01/03/2020 i have tried date formats still it is not coming but, I need this date as United States format mm/dd/yyyy how can I change this help me.

    1. Hello Akhila!
      Please go to Format Cells, choose Number -> Custom Format and set
      mm/dd/yyyy;@
      I hope this will help, otherwise please do not hesitate to contact me anytime.

      1. This is not change have tried kindly help with some other way

  30. How to change 9/1/2019 format to Sep-19 in excel???

    1. Hello!
      Please go to Format Cells, choose Number -> Custom Format and set
      mmm-yy;@
      I hope this will help, otherwise please do not hesitate to contact me anytime.

  31. Thank you dear lady, very useful article

  32. How can i change this Date format 1/14/2019 12:00:00 AM in excel

    1. Hello Chetan, Please to Format Cells, choose Number -> Custom Format and set

      [$-en-US]m/d/yyyy h:mm:ss AM/PM;@

      I hope this will help, otherwise please do not hesitate to contact me anytime.

  33. Hi,
    I have entered different dates in first column. Just want to set 1 year validity for all the cells in that column and if it is more than 1 year the entered date must change its color. Waiting for your reply.

  34. Very helpful, thanks!

  35. Hello,
    In excel previous years. When I input Month and Day, and press enter, it will automatically input year today. So if input is Feb 5. It will show Feb 5, 2020.

    But now,same input, Feb 1, it takes "5" as year and gives me Feb 1,2005.
    Do you know how to change this format?

    Thanks

    1. Correction:
      But now, same input Feb 5, it takes "5" as year and gives me Feb 1, 2005.

  36. My date format is 02.26.2020.0it begins with month, date then year. Help me change it to begins with date, month then year

  37. My date format is like this 20200215 how can I change the date format without using TEXT TO COLUMN ( is there any formula for changing this one) Thanks

  38. I want to use like this 23-01-2020 but it automatically getting changed like 23/1/2020

    1. What's up doesn't work because of date format. Plz kindly help me change it

  39. When I sort my data by year it orders it by the months first, then day, then year, for example:
    01/12/2017
    01/13/2017
    01/13/2018
    01/15/2017
    02/01/2016
    Obviously, this isn't chronological. I would like it to order my data by year, then month, then day, then time. yyyy/mm/dd h:mm
    I typed this in the custom field and it did nothing. Is there another way to accomplish this?

  40. How to convert 10/26/2019 2:27:50 PM int DD/MM/YY format.

  41. Could you please convert the value in date format ,value is 46325635 ,date is 01.03.2019
    Please help to do by using formula

    Thank you
    Sanoop

  42. Hello, is there a way to save a custom format so that it may be accessed from all new spreadsheets? I export a file from another program each week, and create a format dddd, mmm-dd-yy and it works great, but I have to recreate dddd, mmm-dd-yy every time. Older versions of excel used to save my custom formats, but this one does not seem to do so. Excel 2010 Version 14.0.7232.5000
    Thank you.

  43. 23.12.2016 to 23/12/2016

  44. Hi, I want to change date that excel is treating as text to date mm, dd, yyyy across different cells that have correct dates in between. So, 5 cells in a column are treated as text the next 3 are correct and my formula is working then the next 4 are treated as text. So on and on, I want to correct for all at once not manually. Please help

  45. i want to change date to month format.pls help.

  46. Hi,
    Any ideas how to change dates like 20JUN19 into 20.06.2019 or any date format without mass replace operation? Maybe a macro with months and their ".06." counterparts in digits? There are two columns with such dates...
    Thank you

  47. Hi,
    Does anyone know how we can changed the date format from 08/02/2019 (English Caribbean) to 02/08/2019 English (United Kingdom)?
    When changing the format for 08/02/19 it is appearing as 08 Feb 19.

  48. I am trying to enter date in excel i.e. 03/01/2019 but its 3/1/19 how to change this I also tried through format cell option but no use.

  49. I tried to change the date format from 24/09/2019 into 24/09/19, I want this format to be shown in formula bar too. I tried with format cell but could not have desire result....
    kindly help....

  50. I have a date in the format below coming in excel.
    2019-08-10T21:27:09.000-04:00

    How do I convert it into 08/10/19 21:27:09 ?

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