Dates and Excel

[mattlucht]

We've had feedback from a number of people who are using Excel to manage their .csv files that when you open a .csv Excel automatically converts the date from yyyy-mm-dd to dd-mm-yyyy.

It is possible to reformat the date back to yyyy-mm-dd via the cell format menu (cmd+1 on a Mac, CTRL+1 on Windows). But it is inconvenient having to repeat this step each time.

[mattlucht]

There are some free .csv editors which may be able to help. We've not investigated this, but these look promising:

• CsVed (Windows)
• CSV Pad (Windows / Linux)
• Table Tool (Mac OS)

[EmilyHill94]

If you must use Excel, you can change the settings by following these steps:

1. Highlight the date columns.
2. Select “format” (Ctrl + 1 on a windows machine).
3. Select “date” and choose the correct formatting.

Once you’re ready to publish the register, save the file as a CSV and upload it.
Unfortunately, the next time you open the file the date formatting can revert, but so long as you correct it just before uploading, the formatting on the live version will be correct.