Convert Excel Date Format

Top 3 Ways to Change Default Date Format in Excel

Dates, Times, Numbers are the most frequently used date type with Excel, and they can be converted to each other, for example, when you type the date and times in a given cell, it may be displayed as a string of numbers. This is because Excel stores date values as sequential numbers by default unless you modified it. In this post, I will show you 3 easiest ways to quickly to change date format in Excel 2007/2010/2013.

Way 1: Format A Chart Data Series In Excel

The most direct way to change date format in Excel chart is to find Number option on the Home tab, and click on the General to open dropdown menu, you will see the most common data formats listed. Choose one to quickly convert general text to date format for selected cells.

Way 2: Change Excel Date Format in Format Cells

The Format Cells feature allows converting between date formats in Excel quickly, where you can not only select the time type but also create a custom date and times format.

1.To begin with, select the range you want to alert date format and right click to choose Format Cells or press Control + 1 (not in Numpad) at the same time.

2.Choose Date under Number section and you can use either Type or Locale to change time format in Excel cells.

3.If the default date formats are not suitable for you, go to Custom below and you can set custom date formats for Excel as you want, like yyyy/m/d h:mm.

Way 3: Use Formula to Convert A Date Format in Excel

You can also convert date format in Excel formula, which is also convenient as you understand the abbreviation codes.

In a blank cell, input =text(target value, format text) and press Enter. You can apply the formula to a certain range by dragging down. Below are some examples:

For better understanding, I have concluded the basic codes in the following tablet.

Code	Output Format (Example: 2017/1/1 )
m	1
mm	01
mmm	Jan
mmmm	January
mmmmm	J
d	1
dd	01
ddd	Mon
dddd	Monday
yy	17
yyyy	2017

The Bottom Line

Above mentioned 3 ways are quite easy and worthy trying when you need to change data to date format in Excel, same goes to Number, Time, Currency and more. If you had set a password to protect your Excel files and accidently lost it, Excel Password Recovery will be a good choice to remove xlsx password with powerful brute force attacks. Don’t hesitate to give it a try when you need to unlock the password protected Excel files.

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