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Year only dates can be entered into spreadsheets

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without encountering any problems, as shown 
for piece number 52.

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However, when I try to enter a month/year 
date,

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spreadsheet software such as Excel converts 
the date to a text format.

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This can be seen here when I enter the First 
date and Last dates

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for piece number 53.

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To prevent this automatic reformatting,

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the format of the cells needs to be amended 
before entering the data.

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There are many ways to do this; here are 
two ways in Excel.

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Select the cell

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and choose the Number format drop down list 
in the Home ribbon,

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and select Text.

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Select the cell and right click the mouse 
in that cell.

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Select Format cells and on the Number tab, 
select Text, then select OK.

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You can see the format of the date is now 
retained.

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If you are using another spreadsheet software, 
the method will be similar.