XL2000: Copy and Paste of Dates Produces Incorrect Dates

When you use the Paste command in a cell or range that has been formatted as a Date, Microsoft Excel pastes incorrect dates.

This problem occurs when one or more of the following conditions are true:

• Your workbook is using the 1904 date system.
  
  -or-
  
  
• Your workbook was originally created in a version of Microsoft Excel for the Macintosh.

To correct this problem, revise your workbook or template so that it no longer uses the 1904 date system. To do this, follow these steps:

1. On the Tools menu, click Options.
2. On the Calculation tab, click to clear the 1904 date system check box under Workbook options.

NOTE: The 1904 date system is a global setting for the entire workbook. All dates in every worksheet in the active workbook may change.

Microsoft has confirmed that this is a problem in the Microsoft products that are listed at the beginning of this article.

For more information about date systems in Microsoft Excel, please see the following article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base: