 To apply a custom number format to a cell select the cell that you want to format go to the home number general that in the number format section drop down to find the more number format section on the number tab and The category window look down for the custom click it and you open up a window that gives you a sample of the selected cell number and then this is the available types and You can compare in the sample window what each of the types will do to the selected number this one adds a comma I'm going to scroll down and there's a section looks like dates That's a nice format. There's another date format not the one we want Another date format almost but not there Yes Month and year is what we want click okay, and it applies that format to the number Remember Excel doesn't change the underlying number when you format, so it's still 11 1 2002 click on the format button Drag down and the column you want to all have that number format and We have them reformatted there again 11 12 12 1 12 January 1