Report Export Date Format Differs By User?

[pxedust]

I haven't 100% nailed this down but I've checked enough to have a solid hunch.

We're seeing weird formatting behavior in date fields on a reports exported to Excel, and the behavior is different on my machine than the user who raised the issue. What I've gathered so far is that if the user who set the date in question is in one of our EU locations, the date shows up wonky for her in Excel - I've attached a snip (the HTML report is fine).

I'm assuming this related to how the date is handled going to XML + an Excel settings issue and was wondering - and very much hoping - that someone has seen this and can advise.

[philipfrench]

The difference in the format you are seeing is more likely related to the fact that some dates where the day number is <=12 are liable to wrong interpretation between US and European formats.

Where this is not the case, eg for the 13th of the month, 13 cannot be mistaken for a month, and therefore Excel treats the value differently.

I think this is what you are seeing, more than a European entering a date has somehow got his date formatting stored alongside the timestamp.

I know this doesn't answer your question directly, but I think the issue is related to the actual date values themselves (and how Excel is interpreting and displaying them), rather than the user's locale when they were entered in the first place.

I'm pretty sure that when a date is entered, it is just a timestamp under the covers, and is only interpreted with respect to a timezone and format when it is rendered back out for screen display / reporting.