Excel turned my values into dates, or swapped day and month
Short answer
Excel turns anything date-like into a date when you open a CSV or paste: 1-2 becomes 1 Feb (or 2 Jan), and 03/04 is read in your region's day/month order. To keep values as written, import the column as Text or type an apostrophe first. To repair swapped dates, rebuild them with =DATE(year, month, day) from the original text, or use Text to Columns with the Date: DMY (or MDY) option.
What Excel turns into dates
| In the file | What it was | What Excel may show |
|---|---|---|
1-2 | a size, a score, a range | 01-Feb or 02-Jan |
MAR1 | a product code | 01-Mar |
03/04/2026 | 3 April (written in Europe) | March 4 in a US Excel |
25/04/2026 | 25 April | text in a US Excel (no month 25) |
12.10 | a price | 12 Oct in some regions |
The order Excel uses — day/month or month/day — comes from your computer's region, not from the file. A CSV doesn't say which order it was written in.
How do I keep values exactly as written?
- Import, don't double-click: Data › From Text/CSV › Transform Data, select the column, Data Type › Text, then Close & Load.
- Before pasting: select the destination column and set its format to Text, then paste.
- Typing: start with an apostrophe:
'1-2. The apostrophe doesn't show in the cell. - Codes like MAR1: Microsoft 365 and Excel 2024 let you untick Convert “date-like” combinations of continuous letters and numbers into a date (Windows: File › Options › Data › Automatic Data Conversion; Mac: Excel › Preferences › Edit). It doesn't cover numeric patterns such as
1-2— import those as Text.
How do I fix dates that were swapped?
If the dates are still text (left-aligned), rebuild them in the right order. For 03/04/2026 meaning 3 April:
=DATE(RIGHT(A2,4), MID(A2,4,2), LEFT(A2,2))— day first; swapMIDandLEFTfor month-first text.- Or select the column, Data › Text to Columns, Delimited › Next › Next, then choose Date: DMY (or MDY) as the column format and finish.
If Excel already converted them to dates in the wrong order, the day and month are swapped only for days 1–12 (others stayed text). Re-importing the original file as text, then converting with the right order, is the reliable fix.
Dates that show as numbers
A column of values like 46303 is a column of real dates with a number format — Excel counts days from 1900. Format it as Date (Ctrl+1 / Cmd+1 › Date) and choose the display you want.
Times
A value like 14:30 becomes a time (a fraction of a day), which still shows as 14:30. That's usually what you want for timetables and shift lists. If you need it as text — for a departure board, or to keep 24:10 after-midnight times — import the column as Text. See printed timetables to Excel.
What QuickScan does
QuickScan never turns a value into a date. In its Excel files, dates written with a year and times stay exactly as they were printed, stored as text — so 03/04/2026 can't be flipped, and a code like 1-2 stays a code. (A day and month without a year, like 12.10, can't be told apart from a price, so check those columns.) When you need real dates to sort or calculate, convert the column with the DATE formula or Text to Columns above, choosing the order the document uses. Its CSV files are plain text like any CSV: open them with the import steps above.
On a computer? Point your iPhone's camera at the code to open QuickScan in the App Store.
3 free exports, then a one-time unlock. No subscription.
Questions
How do I stop Excel changing numbers to dates?
Get the values in as text: import the CSV with the column type set to Text, format the cells as Text before pasting, or type an apostrophe first ('1-2). In Microsoft 365 and Excel 2024 you can also switch off the conversion of letter-and-number combinations like MAR1 in Automatic Data Conversion.
Why are my day and month swapped?
Excel reads 03/04/2026 in your region's order: 3 April in the UK, March 4 in the US. A file written in one order and opened in the other gets swapped — or left as text when the day is above 12.
Why do my dates show as numbers like 46303?
That's how Excel stores dates: days since 1900. The value is a real date with a number format; format the column as Date and it shows as a date again.
Does QuickScan change dates?
No. In QuickScan's Excel files, dates written with a year (03/04/2026, 12.10.2026) and times stay exactly as printed, as text, so Excel can't swap day and month. Convert them to real dates in the sheet if you need to sort or calculate.