Date Format

[Trojnfn]

I have a column that contains values like 2/23/16. I do not know if this value is stored as a date or text. What I need to do is to convert it into a date in the format of yyyy-mm-dd hh:mm AM. I go to format cells, then date, but there is not format that matches this pattern. I then go to custom and add this pattern and that does change the format.

Questions:

1. Even though the value is now in the desired format, how do I know whether it is a date or not? Do I convert it to a date first and then do the custom or does custom convert it for me?

2. How does it handle the AM/PM ? I cannot seem to get that to work in the pattern.

3. Is custom the way to convert or this there a more efficient method?

[sourabhg98]

Hi,
Have a look at Post 2# of this thread - http://www.excelforum.com/excel-gene...-and-time.html

See if this helps!