Thanks,
I added a column and used the following formula:
=IF(MID(H2,1,2)<>" ", DATE(MID(H2,8,2),HLOOKUP(MID(H2,4,3), $P$2:$AA$3,2,FALSE),MID(H2,1,2)),"")


with a JanFeb etc to 1 2 horizontal lookup in P2:AA3
works like a charm


Peter

>In Excel you can write & run a macro. Here cells in column A having rows from 2 to 10 should appear in a new format:
>
>
>Sub Macro1()
> For Each c In Range("A2:A20")
> c.NumberFormat = "mm/dd/yy"
> c.FormulaR1C1 = c.Value
> Next c
>
>End Sub
>
>
>Best Wishes
>
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>previous messages below
>Thanks but what can i do in excel. the data ARE already there. And the dates look like "24-Mar-00"
>Id there a At function alike in excel so I could somthing like =date((mid(f2,1,2),AT(mid(f2,4,3),"JanFebMar...")/3......
>to convert into a data for sorting???
>
>Peter
>
>
>
>>>When I do a copy to mySpredsheet type XLS in FP2.5 dates come into Excel as character
>>>When a user sorts on a date he gets all januaries all februaries etc.
>>>
>>>How can that be done right so the user can actually sort on a date column???
>>>
>>>Thanks
>>>
>>>Peter
>>
>>When you do COPY TO, make it TYPE XL5. That gives you a more advanced format. (XLS is Excel 2; XL5 is, naturally, Excel 5.)
>>
>>Tamar
>Peter Cortiel