Microsoft KB Archive/74702

{| = Chart Returns Serial Number When Breaking Link to Worksheet =
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Last reviewed: November 2, 1994

Article ID: Q74702

SUMMARY
Dates in a chart will change to serial numbers if the link between the worksheet and the chart has been removed.

Workaround
To keep the dates from reformatting to a serial number, enter the dates as text in the original spreadsheet as follows:

  Enter a space before the date. -or-   Enclose the date within quotation marks. For example: =&quot;1/1/1991&quot; -or-   Use the text function to look like the following: =text(&quot;1/1/1991&quot;,&quot;mmm/yy&quot;) 

MORE INFORMATION
To remove a link between a chart and a worksheet, you must calculate the references within the chart's SERIES formula. Since the underlying value of any date is a serial number, calculating the references to produce values will show dates as their underlying serial values.

For information on how to remove a link between a chart and worksheet, query on:

removing and link and chart and worksheet