Hi Evan

I've had the same problem, so now I copy the file to xl5 then use this code to extend the date field :

********* modify excel files column width
oXL = CREATEOBJECT( [Excel.Application] )
lcXlFile = "name of excel file"
oWb = oXL.Workbooks.Open( lcXlFile )
oSheet = oWb.ActiveSheet
oSheet.columns( "A:A" ).columnWidth = 9.2
osheet.Columns( "A:A" ).NumberFormat = "m/d/yyyy"
oWb.Save()
oXL.Quit()

This fixes the date width problem. Hope this helps.

Shafid