Feline
Thanks for the warm welcome. I still read PPRuNe from time to time but, now that I'm so restricted in what I can say in the discussions I enjoyed most, not as often.
Your method would indeed be more elegant but, for some reason, the date column in the particular spreadsheet I'm using refuses to reformat - whether I use Date or Custom.
I'd tried it when Sproggett very helpfully set me on that track, but with the same lack of success.
I've no idea why. I've tried using the same method to reformat the date column in other Excel spreadsheets from the same source and it works every time.
BTW .....
I see you work in computers in Africa.
Did you and I have a mutual interest in Ealing some years ago?
Just a long shot.