Excel 2007 Cell Format Change Bug Warning

Had the same problem on a large spreadsheet I changed to xlsb.

The number formatting for the Style "Normal" had changed to a date format.
Change it back to General.

This doesn't fix the bug that caused the Style "Normal" to change, but it
does give you your spreadsheet back. My Pivot Tables had become a nightmare
as most fields were being displayed as dates, and where they are an input
field, cannot change the field number format.

"Carolin" wrote:

> I have the same problem and been trying to recreate files, but it keeps
> happening.
>
> "BobLfoot" wrote:
>
> > Dear All:
> > I've had this happen four times now on different machines at different times.
> >
> > Excel 2007 when opening a Shared Workbook and changes all general formatted
> > cells on all sheets of the workbook to Date Format {mm/dd/yyyy}.
> >
> > Changing the format back to general only means they again default to date at
> > the next opening, you must format to text or number to prevent the auto date
> > format application.
> >
> > Antbody else been "helped" by this "feature"?
> >
> > BobLfoot

I Hvae suddenly got the same problem in an xlsm file. It is a nightmare.
When will Microsfoft propose a solution to this?

Does anyone here know how to fix the default number format for the affected
file?

"BrettStuart" wrote:

> Had the same problem on a large spreadsheet I changed to xlsb.
>
> The number formatting for the Style "Normal" had changed to a date format.
> Change it back to General.
>
> This doesn't fix the bug that caused the Style "Normal" to change, but it
> does give you your spreadsheet back. My Pivot Tables had become a nightmare
> as most fields were being displayed as dates, and where they are an input
> field, cannot change the field number format.
>
> "Carolin" wrote:
>
> > I have the same problem and been trying to recreate files, but it keeps
> > happening.
> >
> > "BobLfoot" wrote:
> >
> > > Dear All:
> > > I've had this happen four times now on different machines at different times.
> > >
> > > Excel 2007 when opening a Shared Workbook and changes all general formatted
> > > cells on all sheets of the workbook to Date Format {mm/dd/yyyy}.
> > >
> > > Changing the format back to general only means they again default to date at
> > > the next opening, you must format to text or number to prevent the auto date
> > > format application.
> > >
> > > Antbody else been "helped" by this "feature"?
> > >
> > > BobLfoot

BobLfoot wrote:

Dear All: I've had this happen four times now on different machines at different times. Excel 2007 when opening a Shared Workbook and changes all general formatted cells on all sheets of the workbook to Date Format {mm/dd/yyyy}. Changing the format back to general only means they again default to date at the next opening, you must format to text or number to prevent the auto date format application. Antbody else been "helped" by this "feature"? BobLfoot

In Excel 2007 you can click on the 'Cell Styles' option on the menu bar. Then right Click on 'Normal' in the top left hand corner of the displayed styles and then select the 'Modify' option. you will see that the number format is set to date and time.

Select the format... button and then select whichever format you want for general numbers, e.g. two decimal places and red for negative. Click on 'Ok' and you should see that the format in the dialogue box has been reset to '0.00;[Red]0.00'. Click on OK, and then save the spreadsheet. You should find that all cells now default to this format for numbers rather than Date/Time.

I hope this helps. I've been struggling with the same problem for six months and have just put up with it until today when I thought I'ld try to find a solution.

Started seeing this 2 days ago on large spreadsheets with 10-20 tabs > 15MB.
It added a custom format that looked like this "[$-409]d-mmm-yyyy h:mm
AM/PM;@" No idea how it got there. I fixed it by deleting that particular
format and cells went back to General format.


"Nick1111111111111" wrote:

> I Hvae suddenly got the same problem in an xlsm file. It is a nightmare.
> When will Microsfoft propose a solution to this?
>
> Does anyone here know how to fix the default number format for the affected
> file?
>
> "BrettStuart" wrote:
>
> > Had the same problem on a large spreadsheet I changed to xlsb.
> >
> > The number formatting for the Style "Normal" had changed to a date format.
> > Change it back to General.
> >
> > This doesn't fix the bug that caused the Style "Normal" to change, but it
> > does give you your spreadsheet back. My Pivot Tables had become a nightmare
> > as most fields were being displayed as dates, and where they are an input
> > field, cannot change the field number format.
> >
> > "Carolin" wrote:
> >
> > > I have the same problem and been trying to recreate files, but it keeps
> > > happening.
> > >
> > > "BobLfoot" wrote:
> > >
> > > > Dear All:
> > > > I've had this happen four times now on different machines at different times.
> > > >
> > > > Excel 2007 when opening a Shared Workbook and changes all general formatted
> > > > cells on all sheets of the workbook to Date Format {mm/dd/yyyy}.
> > > >
> > > > Changing the format back to general only means they again default to date at
> > > > the next opening, you must format to text or number to prevent the auto date
> > > > format application.
> > > >
> > > > Antbody else been "helped" by this "feature"?
> > > >
> > > > BobLfoot

I have been getting this same problem for quite some time. It's very random.
I have not been able to find out why this would happen, if it is something i
am doing, or an excel bug. Some how the "Normal Cell Style" changes to date
format..... Does any one have a fix or can tell us why this happens?

"Buzz95610" wrote:

> Started seeing this 2 days ago on large spreadsheets with 10-20 tabs > 15MB.
> It added a custom format that looked like this "[$-409]d-mmm-yyyy h:mm
> AM/PM;@" No idea how it got there. I fixed it by deleting that particular
> format and cells went back to General format.
>
>
> "Nick1111111111111" wrote:
>
> > I Hvae suddenly got the same problem in an xlsm file. It is a nightmare.
> > When will Microsfoft propose a solution to this?
> >
> > Does anyone here know how to fix the default number format for the affected
> > file?
> >
> > "BrettStuart" wrote:
> >
> > > Had the same problem on a large spreadsheet I changed to xlsb.
> > >
> > > The number formatting for the Style "Normal" had changed to a date format.
> > > Change it back to General.
> > >
> > > This doesn't fix the bug that caused the Style "Normal" to change, but it
> > > does give you your spreadsheet back. My Pivot Tables had become a nightmare
> > > as most fields were being displayed as dates, and where they are an input
> > > field, cannot change the field number format.
> > >
> > > "Carolin" wrote:
> > >
> > > > I have the same problem and been trying to recreate files, but it keeps
> > > > happening.
> > > >
> > > > "BobLfoot" wrote:
> > > >
> > > > > Dear All:
> > > > > I've had this happen four times now on different machines at different times.
> > > > >
> > > > > Excel 2007 when opening a Shared Workbook and changes all general formatted
> > > > > cells on all sheets of the workbook to Date Format {mm/dd/yyyy}.
> > > > >
> > > > > Changing the format back to general only means they again default to date at
> > > > > the next opening, you must format to text or number to prevent the auto date
> > > > > format application.
> > > > >
> > > > > Antbody else been "helped" by this "feature"?
> > > > >
> > > > > BobLfoot

Showed up in one of my monster spreadsheets this week. I selected all sheets and changed all formats back to "general". So far has fixed it. Don't know what caused it though.