>When I export a table containing dates to excel using the COPY TO XL5 syntax, my customer who uses a Macintosh gets a date 4 years later.
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>for example: 12/01/2006 > 12/01/2010.
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>The Macintosh works on a different date system (starts in 1904 instead of 1900 for some reason - perhaps because 1984 was exactly 80 years later?)
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>Normally, it imports excel files and converts the dates properly if the excel file is created for Windows. In this case it doesn't seem to work.
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>Is there some setting that I'm overlooking when exporting the excel file? I've tried SET DATE AMERICAN. I can't see whether setting codepage would work at all.
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>Any Suggestions?

Well, create it in Windows then... i.e. copy to ... xl5, then use automation, and set the format for date columns to some regular date format, and save the file in a newer format (newer than xl5). That would bring it up to some more current Excel format with a proper marker in it that Excel for Mac would recognize.