When dates are copied into Excel, they’re often copied as text.
JD Sartain Convert text dates to actual dates Excel calls them serial numbers and uses them to calculate dates and times. These are the numeric equivalents of the first five days in May of 2016. Notice that your five dates have changed to the following numbers: 42491 through 42495. Highlight the range then from the Home tab’s Number group, select General from the drop-down list. Now enter the dates in cells B3 through B7 for the first five days in May through. Notice that your numbers 1 through 5 have changed to the following dates: through. Highlight the range, then from the Home tab’s Number group, select Short Date from the drop-down list. Open Excel and enter the numbers 1 through 5 in cells A3 through A7.
Not to be confused with Julian dates, which mainframes and many programming languages use, Excel serial numbers are unique to Microsoft products. Every date (month, day, year) and time (hour, minute, and second) has an equivalent Serial Number dating back to Januat 00:00:00 (hours, minutes, seconds). If you need to calculate dates in your spreadsheets, Excel uses its own unique system, which it calls Serial Numbers.
