format column doesn't stick

Hi elliottlegal,

Numbers just can't change and recognize the numbers as dates, even though they appear as such.

This is correct. There is something about those entries that Numbers does not see as a date/time. Check for spaces or stray punctuation. If you can't figure it out, post a screenshot that includes dates and non-dates.

quinn

Hi elliottlegal,

It looks like you have a space at the end of the date in those. That would do it.

quinn

You can strip the offending leading zeros and convert to date format with the script below.

1. Copy-paste into Script Editor (in Applications > Utilities).
2. Select the cells in the column with dates.
3. Click the "Run" button in Script Editor.

Tested with Numbers 3.5.3.

SG

tell application "Numbers"

tell front document to tell active sheet

set t to first table whose selection range's class is range

set selRng to t'sselection range

repeat with c in selRng's cells

try

set v to c's value

if v's first character is "0" then ¬

set c's value to v's text 2 thru -1

set c'sformat to date and time

end try

end repeat

end tell

end tell