How to change the date format in Excel

Are you annoyed when Excel replaces the dates you enter with numbers, texts, or characters with the format that you don't want? For example, if you type January 2012 in a cell, it will automatically be replaced with 1/1/2012. Another example is when you type 7 Feb, it will automatically be replaced with 2/7/2012. This article will show you how to resolve this problem and display the date format that you want. With the Format Cells function, not only can you format the Numbers but also you can format the Alignment, Font, Border, Patterns, and Protection of the cells in your spreadsheet document. This hub will address the issue of the date entry problem. Some solutions include the use of the Find and Replace command, or even using "magic characters" such as ' but these are not permanent fixes. Below is a better solution that solves the problem from the root cause.

How to change the date format in Excel:

1. Select the cell or cells that you want to format.
2. Click Format -> Cells.
3. Click the Number tab.
4. Select Date under Category.
5. Select the Type of the date format that you want from the list. You can see the Sample date format shown above.
6. Click OK.

Note:
Date formats display date and time serial numbers as date values. Except for items that have an asterisk (*),  applied formats do not switch date orders with the Operating System.