Have you ever found yourself staring at a column of dates in Excel, only to realize they’re formatted as text? It’s a common problem that can hinder your data analysis and reporting tasks. Fortunately, converting text to date in Excel is straightforward. If you’re looking to use the Text to Columns feature or need to convert a number to date in Excel, this article will walk you through the process step-by-step.

Learn how to seamlessly convert text to dates, ensuring your spreadsheets are accurate and functional. Discover the best methods for Excel convert number to date and Excel convert text to number, making your data work for you. Let’s dive in and transform those text entries into usable date formats!

How to Convert Text to Date in Excel

What does it mean to convert text to date in Excel

Converting text to date in Excel means transforming date information stored as text strings into a format that Excel recognizes as a date. This transformation is crucial for enabling date-specific calculations, formatting, and sorting. Text dates, which are treated as plain text, cannot be used directly in date functions or operations. By converting these text strings into Excel’s date format using functions like DATEVALUE, TEXT, or DATE, or tools like Text to Columns, you ensure that your data can be accurately processed. This conversion is essential for tasks such as performing date arithmetic, applying consistent date formats, and sorting dates chronologically, thereby enhancing data integrity, facilitating automation, and improving data analysis and reporting.

How to convert number to date in Excel

Step 1: Open MS Excel

Step 2: Select your Data and Perform a Right-click

Select your Data and Perform a Right-click

Step 3: Select Format Cells

Select Format Cells

Step 4: Choose Date Format

Select “Date” from the Category list and choose the desired date format from the Type list.

Choose Date Format

Step 5: Preview Results

Preview Results

How to Convert Text to Date in Excel

Step 1: Open Excel and Select the Cells

Open the spreadsheet in Excel and select the cells which have the date in text format then go to home tab at top of the ribbon and then select replace from the find & select dropdown.

Step 2: Format Replace

Enter “-” in find what and “/” in replace with and press replace all.

Format Replace

Step 3: Change the Date Format

Finally, our spreadsheet has changed the date text in the Date format.

Change the Date Format

How to convert text to columns in Excel

Step 1: Open MS Excel and Select the Cells

Open the spreadsheet with excel and select all data cells of one column and select the data tab in the top of the ribbon and then choose Texts to Columns from data tools. Then Convert Text to column wizard dialog box will appear and here you can see it is in Step 1 of 3 that is written in the dialog box.

Select all the Cells

Step 2: Select the Data from Column data

Just click NEXT in step 1 and step 2 as it is and in step 3 select the Date from the column data format and press finish.

Click “Next”

Step 3: Select all the cells of another column

Similarly, select all data cells of another column and apply the above step to get the final result in date format.

Result

Now you will understand how we change the date text in Date format.

Conclusion

Converting text to date in Excel is a straightforward yet powerful technique that can significantly enhance your data management and analysis capabilities. By using functions like DATEVALUE, TEXT, and custom formatting options, you can efficiently convert text to dates. Mastering these techniques ensures that your data is accurate and ready for any analysis. Whether you need to Excel convert number to date, or convert a number to date in Excel, these methods will transform your raw data into a more usable and insightful format. Additionally, if you need to Excel convert text to number, these steps will help streamline your data processing, ensuring it is in the correct format for analysis.

How to Convert Text to Date in Excel – FAQs

How do I convert text to date format in Excel?

Follow the steps given below:

• Select the cells containing the text you want to convert.
• Go to the “Data” tab and choose “Text to Columns.”
• In the wizard, select “Delimited” and click “Next.”
• Choose the delimiter that matches your data, click “Next,” and then select “Date” under “Column Data Format.”
• Finish the wizard to convert the text to date format.

How to change date format in Excel using text formula?

Use the TEXT function to change the date format. For example, =TEXT(A1, “mm/dd/yyyy”) converts the date in cell A1 to the “mm/dd/yyyy” format.

To apply this to multiple cells, drag the fill handle down to apply the formula to other cells.

How to convert date to text in Excel without losing format?

• Use the TEXT function to convert the date to text while preserving the format. For example, =TEXT(A1, “dd/mm/yyyy”) will convert the date in cell A1 to text in the “dd/mm/yyyy” format.
• This ensures the date is displayed as text but retains the desired format.

How to convert date format from mm dd yyyy to dd mm yyyy in Excel?

Here are the steps to be followed:

• Select the cells with the dates you want to reformat.
• Press Ctrl+1 to open the “Format Cells” dialog box.
• In the “Number” tab, select “Custom” and enter dd/mm/yyyy in the “Type” field.
• Click “OK” to apply

What is convert text to date in Excel Formula?

If cell A1 contains a date as text like “01/12/2023”, you can convert it to a date format using =DATEVALUE(A1)