Microsoft KB Archive/48931

-

{| 2.x 3.00 4.00 4.00a 5.00 | 2.20 2.21 3.00 WINDOWS                 | OS/2
 * width="100%"|

The information in this article applies to:
 * Microsoft Excel for Windows, versions 2.x, 3.0, 4.0, 4.0a, 5.0
 * Microsoft Excel for OS/2 versions 2.2, 2.21, and 3.0

SYMPTOMS
When using the NOW function in a narrow column, if the column is not wide enough to display the entire date, ##### is displayed.

CAUSE
Excel does not allow the date to &quot;spill&quot; into adjacent cells, even when the cell is formatted as a date (for example, &quot;m/d/yy&quot; or &quot;mmmm dd, yyyy&quot;, using the Format Number command) because the data type is still a number.

WORKAROUND
To work around this constraint, use the following function:

=TEXT(NOW,&quot;m/d/yy&quot;) You can substitute any date format you want for the second argument of the TEXT function.
 * }

-

Last reviewed: November 2, 1994

© 1998 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved. Terms of Use.