Hi Janet,
To save me fiddling around trying to setup a test case, can you send me an example please so I can try it out.
Thanks

Thanks for looking into this, at least we now know what is happening and can look out for it in future.

Janet

Hi - I rarely coem across the 1904 date format now.  The main issue is that is was for a long time the default date format in Mac Excel, not PC excel, and in the format cells bit of excel on a PC you can now set it to be one or other, AS DISPLAYED.  But, as these dates are essentially an integer of number of days since either 01/01/1901 or 01/01/1904, that is not changed, and, I think what recorder reads is the integer behind the formatting.  It is not easy to spot in excel - usually only noticed when imported records are all 1462 days wrong!  (ie 4 years out) - easy to notice if you have an earliest date cut-off in yoru survey, as the records get rejected.

I have always checked the date in records received by converting a few of the date cells to the integer format (clear formatting right click) to display the number, compared to the correct version on a spreadsheet which you know is correct.

If Ihave to change the dates, I remove the formatting of all the dates, so that they are just integers, then add1462 to that integer and re-convert to date format.

Simple! (but annoying).  I am slowly educating the last few remaining observers who have old -school habits such as this and finding it less and less of an issue

Louise, CPERC