Comments on: How to convert date to text in Excel with TEXT function and without formulas

The article explains how to use the Excel TEXT function and a variety of other ways to convert dates to text in Excel. Continue reading →

Comments page 3. Total comments: 212

  1. Please help to convert the below mentioned date Sep 11 2020 11:52AM
    into DD-MM-YYYY HH:MM:SS format

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

      =IF(MID(A1,18,2)="PM",DATEVALUE(MID(A1,5,2) & "-"&LEFT(A1,3) & "-"&MID(A1,8,4))+TIMEVALUE(MID(A1,13,5))+0.5, DATEVALUE(MID(A1,5,2) & "-"&LEFT(A1,3)&"-"&MID(A1,8,4)) + TIMEVALUE(MID(A1,13,5)))

      Set a custom date and time format in the cell DD-MM-YYYY HH:MM:SS

  2. thanks for your online support it's very helpful.

    Thanks,
    Kumar.S

  3. I am creating a spreadsheet with document name, document type, and date columns. In the final column I am using the "concatenate" function to piece all this data together in order to create a file name (in other words, I'm creating a naming convention for storage of all the files listed on this spreadsheet.

    For sorting purposes, I want the year first, then the month, then the date. I can force the date fields to reflect this by using the custom format option. However, when I use the "text" function to bring that date over into the file name column, the date is still converting into Excel's serial number for that date. (2020.05.05 converts to 43956).

    How can I get the date to carry over properly?

    Here is my formula, with G17 being the date field carrying over into this column:
    =IF(D17=" ",(CONCATENATE(F17,"_",TEXT(G17,"yyyy-mm-dd"),"_",TEXT(H17,"00000000"),"_",I17)),(IF(D17"",(CONCATENATE(F17,"_",G17,"_",TEXT(H17,"00000000"),"_",I17,"_",D17)),(CONCATENATE(F17,"_",G17,"_",TEXT(H17,"00000000"),"_",I17)))))

  4. I would like to convert a text string that contains date format MMM-YY such as "Mar-19" and "Jun-18" to be formatted in MMM-YY format, but I do not want it to assume that the date is of the current year.

    Example:
    Current year is 2020, my cell contains text "Mar-19", but using =Text(A1,"MMM-YY") returns value "Mar-20".
    I would like this to return "Mar-19".

    My hope is to use this text in a subtraction formula to find how many months from this start date to current date.

    1. Hello Daniel!
      To convert text "Mar-19" to date you can use this formula

      =DATEVALUE("01-"&A2)

      I hope my advice will help you solve your task.

  5. Thank you !!! It helped me a lot <3

  6. Hi,
    Could you please share me the process to convert below text to date:
    07 May 2020 17:23:47:000

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

      =DATEVALUE(SUBSTITUTE(A5,TRIM(RIGHT(SUBSTITUTE(A5," ",REPT(" ",20)),20)),"")) + TIMEVALUE(LEFT(TRIM(RIGHT(SUBSTITUTE(A5," ",REPT(" ",20)),20)),8))

      you can try to use Custom Format. Please go to Format Cells, choose Number -> Custom Format and set the followig format:
      dd mmmm yyyy hh:mm:ss
      I hope my advice will help you solve your task.

  7. Hi,I have Mar20. Is it possible to convert it to 3/31/2020, which is the last date of the month?

    Thank you so much if anyone can help.

    1. Hello Jenny!
      Please try the following formula

      =EOMONTH(A1,0)

      Note! Don't forget to set the Date format for cell E1.
      Hope you’ll find this information helpful.

      1. It works! Thank you so much!

  8. Thanks alot for sharing.

  9. Hai mam,
    in a file some date are entered but file sent to one system to another some date should be shuffled (it have 2000 entries in a column) .
    ie.
    10-03-19
    10-03-19
    10-03-19
    04-10-19
    10-08-19
    04-10-19
    10-10-19
    10-08-19
    in this file "10" represent the month. i want this file in dd/mm/yy format. please support me.

  10. I WANT YYYYMM DATE NOT WORKING THE TEXT COMMAND 199707 20/07/1997 I WANT 199707 HOW I CAN DO

  11. Hi,
    i have the following problem.
    When exporting my contacts from Linkedin, I receive a .csv file. I open the file in Excel (2013). One column of this file is filled with dates that look like this:
    10/27/19, 6:13 AM
    This format is text as it sits on the left of the cell.
    Manually, i delete the comma and the time. In this example i come up with:
    10/27/19
    I can't convert this date with the function DATEVALUE. I have a VALUE ERROR.

    I tried to used the "Text to column" Wizard, no results.

    I think that my problem comes from the fact I have a date:
    in a US format
    AND
    in text format.
    Do you have any idea you to solve this?

    Interestingly, i have a like macro my PC, a datepicker that manages to convert my american text date to a UK date. But this means i would have to click all the dates in my column one by one, which is not convenient.

    Thx

    JG

  12. date show as "20191231".how can convert it as "YYYY/MM/DD"

  13. I am not able to change 10-MAY-89 to another format like yyyymmdd.
    The format of the cell is standard and whenever I try to modify it to any date format, nothing happens.

    Thanks for your help,
    Any

  14. i want the format SEP 19 in csv from 01-09-2019
    date to text format
    how to convert , pls tell me

  15. Hello
    I want to change dight into Text.
    Ex:7:30 to convert into 7hrs30min.
    Please let me as soon as possible.
    Its needed for me!

  16. Hi Svetlana Cheusheva,

    Thanks for the notes, it helped me lot.

  17. 3/14/2019 9:30 AM i want this as 14-03-2019 09:00:00
    3/31/2019 6:39 PM - 31-03-2019 18:39:00

  18. Hi Svetlana,

    If I need to convert from text to data the information below, what formula do I have to use?
    10/8/2018
    10/10/2018
    8/8/2019

    I have to mention that I have all this dates in the same column.

    Thank you in advance!
    Roxana

  19. Hi Svetlana,
    I have the following problem:
    I want to subtract the two rows value if both are same date i.e I want to calculate the employee working hours starting time - ending time on a same day ,The values are in diff rows, if only one stamp of employee is there then make it error
    thanks in Advance Please could you help

  20. HI. I have a spreadsheet where the date has been supplied in dd.mm.yy format - Using dots.
    I want to change this to just using the Month. I have tried using the formula =SUBSTITUTE(E2,".","/") but then I can't change than data to only show month?
    Please could you help

  21. Hi Svetlana,
    i have the following problem:
    I can not change the formatting of date that was downloaded form txt file(notepad). From this one 22-10-2018 23:01:01 d/m/yyyy hh:mm:ss to 10-22-2018 23:01:01 m/d/yyyy hh:mm:ss. I even copy that to different sheets but it doesn't work.
    Could you please help with that
    Regards,
    Seymur

  22. GREAT FORMULA !!

  23. A useful article with many good hints and tips but sadly did not address my specific issue.

    I have in Excel a cell '_p_end' which contains a date, say 31/05/2018, which is entered by a user. This is converted to text by =TEXT(_p_end,"dd/mm/yy") to be used in later reports.

    Sadly, some of our users do not use English as their default language. In Excel, for eg a German user, the date displays as 31.05.2018 but it is still a date and may be manipulated as such. However

    TEXT(_p_end,"dd/mm/yy") = #VALUE!

    "dd/mm/yy" is not a valid date format in German.

    How can we overcome this?

    Thank you

    Stuart

  24. Hi hello pls anyone help me in this issue i need convert dates format already in in excel from 15.04.2017 to 15-04-2017
    all the dates are entered with . (dots) only I'm unable to change the format kindly suggest any idea

    1. ssrm

      An interesting problem you have posed. I cannot be certain that all of the information needed to answer you is available in your question but potentially there are solutions.

      Firstly you need to know whether the dates like 15.04.2017 are true dates or text.
      Secondly, you need to consider whether the format (appearance) as 15.04.2017 is simply a result of the locale you are using and if so what the default date format is for that locale.

      I presume, because you ask about displaying them as 15-04-2017 that you have already tried to format the dates to display differently using the Format|Cells|Dates options and have found that they do not respond. This suggests that the dates are text not true dates. The locale that is used then becomes irrelevant. Text is literal (wysiwyg).

      So, if the dates are not true dates but simply text, David Carter provides a quite simple solution at https://www.accountingweb.co.uk/tech/excel/exporting-data-from-sage-line-50-into-excel-1-by-david-carter
      I shall not reproduce all that he says here. If when you try to access it you find that it has been taken down, post an email address here and I shall send a copy to you. In brief, it is designed for a column of dates, and uses the Excel Text to columns functionality, so there is an assumption that you have a column of 'dates' which Excel presently treats as text. The solution converts the text to real dates.

      Once you have true dates you can then choose to format the cells as dates in whatever format is appropriate. If the file is to be shared across multiple locales then you may rather than using the standard date formats available for particular locales, which can result in differences such as you see (15.04.2017 which may appear in other locales as 15/04/17, 04/15/17 or even 17/04/15) set up a custom date format.

      For the custom date format, sadly, I cannot help. If we get a good reply to my post below (73), we may then know how to set one up, but as far as I can see Excel does not respond helpfully across locales, so eg dd-mm-yyyy -> 'dd-00-yyyy' in a German locale, and dd-MM-yyyy -> 'dd-05-yyyy'. We have to use TT-MM-JJJJ, which is of little help if you are in a different locale.

      Finally, I have just noticed that you can select a locale for the date format using Format|Cells|Dates, which will allow you to apply a standard format to display 15-04-2017. English (India), possibly others, contains this format. Whether this works if the file is later transferred to a different locale, I am sorry I do not know the answer to that.

      I hope this helps you
      Stuart

  25. hi please help me!
    how to do this i have 3 column with date and i want it if there is a date display the date but if its blank display the other date in the column.

    thanks so much in advance!

    1. Hello,
      For me to understand the problem better, please send me a small sample workbook with your source data and the result you expect to get to support@ablebits.com. Please don't worry if you have confidential information there, we never disclose the data we get from our customers and delete it as soon as the problem is resolved.
      Please also don't forget to include the link to this comment into your email.
      I'll look into your task and try to help.

  26. I appreciate this, thanks. 1 question about the recommendations:

    dates converted to text strings in the default short date format set in your Windows Regional settings, which is "mm/dd/yyyy" in my case:

    This does all I need EXCEPT I want to change the short date format the text comes through in. I need it to be yyyy/mm/dd. Do I have to change my regional settings or is there another way to do that?

  27. in sell A1 - TEXT 18102017 please convert this as 18/10/2017 in cell B1

    PL PROVIDE SUITABLE FORMULAS FOR CONVERSION USING =TEXT() FUNCTION

    REGARDS

  28. Hi Svetlana,

    I see you are trying to help users with Excel TEXT function used to format time. Well, I've faced problem in international environment, where different users may have different localization of Excel, as well as different local setting of Windows. It cause funny thing, that date formating in Excel TEXT function vary by local setting, e.g. "YYYY-MM-DD" in whatever English, "RRRR-MM-DD" in Czech, "VVVV-KK-PP" in Finish, etc. Excel is not converting it based on local setting, so formula created in one local setting, doesn't work in others. I understand it as MS Excel bug, but it doesn't help me to solve it.
    Have you ever seen this and are you aware of any solution/workaround, which may work? I'd appreciate any tip here.
    My workaround now is this formula: =YEAR(source date cell)&"-"&MONTH(source date cell)&"-"&DAY(source date cell). I'm not fully happy with the solution, as weakpoint is, it may result in single digit month and/or single digit day, which I want to keep as double digit (like 2017-09-01, instead 2017-9-1). Maybe it can be solved by some IF and counting of characters, but it's going to be way too complex, comparing to =TEXT(source date cell; "YYYY-MM-DD").
    Any idea or tip here is very welcomed.

    Regards, Ales

  29. how to convert date of birth in text
    01/07/1965- First july nineteen sixty five in Excel sheet
    pl what formula i have to write.my mob.number is 9423818133

  30. How to convert date of birth in words. Please help in excel.

    thanks

  31. Hi,
    I am trying to return the number of days between the 2 dates
    AE (6/9/2017 17:30 and AD (2/7/2017 9:35)
    Formula: =TEXT(AE6-AD6,"dd,hh:mm:ss")
    result: 01,07:54:45

    How can I return the 3 digits?
    I tried this formula:
    =INT(AE8-AD8)&"Days" & TEXT(AE8-AD8,"H""hrs""m""mins""")
    but then this does not seem to be in an order if I am trying to filter quickly.
    Could you please advise on this?
    Thanks!

  32. Hi
    I am using "Text to Column" feature to convert date. however it is not converting the 29 February 2017.
    Grateful if you please guide.
    Regards,
    Taufiq

  33. Hello,

    Apologies if you have covered this above, I have tried a bunch of your instructions that look applicable but none seem to work for me.

    I would like to type the following into a cell for today's date for example: 2905, and then for it to change to this: 29/05/17. Or if it needs to have the same amount of digits, type this: 290517 to get this 29/05/17.
    If I want it in the same cell, can this be done by conditional formatting? If not, can the formula go in a cell away from the current columns (so I don't need to have two columns next to each other just for the conversion)?

    Your help is greatly appreciated. If you could spell it out step by step that would be great, I am a bit useless. i.e: "click in A2 where you have typed the date as 2905, then click in cell D2..." :)

    Thanks! Brooke

  34. how to convert date to text in excel.for examble 10/03/2000 is convert to ten-march-two thousand like this

    1. Not possible ,
      you can do this formula
      =TEXT(a2,"ddd mmmm yyyy") the output you would receive would be Tue October 2000

  35. How do I create a formula when a specific text is typed in a cell, the current time & date will appear in an assigned cell?:
    A2 = YES
    B2 = (display current time and date)
    A2 = NO
    B2 = (will be blank)
    Thanks!

    1. =IF(A1="yes",NOW()," ")
      change the format for b1 so that it shows only time
      ie by going to format cells selecting time and select the appropriate one you required

  36. Hi,
    Anybody help me to change this time format to words ?

    (55:56:14 , it shows 7 hours, 56 minutes and 14 Seconds)
    it should be 55 hours.... ...

    INT(D179)&" Days," & HOUR(N179)&" hours, " &MINUTE(N179)&" minutes and "&SECOND(N179)& " Seconds"

  37. Hello! I require conversion of date of birth (25/09/1998) to date of birth in words as "Twenty fifth September Nineteen Ninety Eight" in Excel. Please help me.

  38. I am trying to make the formula that in cell A1 has a date and other cell B1 specific date or text i.e "Not Selected" and result in other cell C1 should be the month and days while cell B1 can be counted the today date. I could not make that formula. Please help me. Thank you in advance.

  39. Hi Svetlana,

    I am trying to convert several weeks of date formatted eg;Wednesday, 1 March 2017 to straight text 'WED" for use in pivot table /graphs.

    Custom formatting using "ddd" still retains the "number" value, and using a notepad to convert will not work as I am using Macros.

    Thank you in advance.

  40. Dear Svetlana,

    When I write 2013 on my excel sheet I have the problem that excel sees it as 1905, I have tried to use =Year(2013), change format, use text to columns but doesn't seem to found a way to correct this, could you help me?
    Best regards

  41. How do you convert 2015-JAN-10 to read 01-10-15 in excel?

  42. Is there a way to have a cell pull date data from one cell (ex. May 15, 2017) to say 'Mid May' instead?

  43. How to convert 'January 18th 2017, 12:04 am' to '18/01/2017 12:04 AM' in Excel?

  44. Hi,

    Can you please help me to convert the date format 24/01/2017 in "Twenty-Forth January Two Thousand Seventeen"..??

    Please let me know.. its very urgent

  45. hi.
    how to change date of birth figure in to words in ms excel 2010. for Example 4/3/2002.4th May Two Thousand Two

  46. Hi Svetlana,

    I am trying to copy a either an entire worksheet or a range of data from one workbook to another. I can do this successfully manually, by selecting all the cells with data in them and pasting into a newly created worksheet (Date format is maintained). However when I try to do this via VBA any date with a day greater than 12 gets converted to text [US (m/dd/yyyy)/Australian (dd/mm/yyyy) format change]. I've tried formating the cells first to US format dates but this doesn't help. Any sugestions?

  47. Hi Svetlana.

    This blog is awesome. Thanks

    I have a column D in an Excel sheet that shows date exported from a system in the format;
    day/ month / yyyy as shown in examples below
    29/07/2010
    24/04/2010
    9/7/2010
    20/07/2010
    15/08/2010
    etc

    I need to convert these dobs in to a 4 digit PIN code DDMM
    so results from above will be:
    2907
    2404
    0907
    2007
    1508

    I've tried =TEXT(D2,"mmdd") but it keeps the slashes / and always retains the yyyy at the end
    I've tried =TEXT(D2,"dd")&TEXT(D2,"mm") but same issues

    A maths friend gave me this and it seemed to work for a while:
    =IF(LEN(TEXT(100*DAY(D2)+MONTH(D2),0))=3,CONCATENATE("0",TEXT(100*DAY(D2)+MONTH(D2),0)),TEXT(100*DAY(D2)+MONTH(D2),0))

    I'm using Excel 2010. Help please.

    Thank you in anticipation

    1. Hi Mark,

      This simple formula works just fine for me:
      =TEXT(D2, "ddmm")

      You can check it in a new empty sheet by typing a few dates manually in your default date format, not copy/paste from the existing sheet. If it works with the regular dates typed manually, then most likely the problem is with the exported dates, e.g. they may be text strings that look like dates. To check this, select any cell with a date, and look at the Number Format box on the Home tab > Number group. If it shows Text or General, you are dealing with text strings, not dates. In this case, you can simply extract the 1st, 2nd, 4th, and 5th character using this formula:
      =LEFT(D2,2)&MID(D2,4,2)

      Please note, the above formula will work only if all the dates are in the same format, i.e. dd/mm/yyyy.

      If there are dates formatted as d/m/yyyy (without leading zeros), you will need to convert text strings to dates first, and then apply =TEXT(D2, "ddmm") to the converted dates.

      1. OK - thanks for confirmation & the extra info

  48. that was very simple way of doing.
    Is there no other option, using Text and columns??

    1. Sure, you can use the Text to Columns feature too as demonstrated in this example:
      Covert text to date with Text to Columns. I prefer 'Replace All' because it's faster, but it's up to you.

      Another way to convert a date in mm.dd.yyyy (or dd.mm.yyyy) format to mm-dd-yyyy (or dd-mm-yyyy) is using the Substitute function:
      =VALUE(SUBSTITUTE(A1, ".", "-"))

  49. Hi,
    I would like to learn, how to convert 01.01.2016 to 01-01-2016 format.

    1. =SUBSTITUTE(A1,".","-")

  50. Hi all,
    I would like to convert date, i.e. 31-12-2015 into text format... like Thirty one - December - Two thousand fifteen.

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