Stop auto correction of number into a date

So let me get this straight.  Instead of coming out and stating the answer ("No, you can't simply turn the auto correct off"), you avoid answering the question, and state 1) How he is wrong for even wanting to do it in the first place, and that despite the inconvenience, Microsoft knows better then him and is forcing him to use workarounds, and 2) How to implement these workarounds, despite the fact that he clearly states in his question that he knows of them already.

3/88 is NOT a date!  (Excel changes it to 3/1/88)  If you want to get technical about it, 1/4 is not a date either (nor a number), its a text string.  It is inconsistent to change 11/4 into  4-Nov (11/4/2010) while 111/4 remains unchanged.  What's the difference between those two text strings?  One character.  It is simple arrogance to assume that because a text string fits into a common format, that it must be interpreted as that format WITHOUT GIVING THE SIMPLE OPTION OF TURNING THIS AUTO-FORMATING OFF!  It is frustrating that this happens.  It is even more frustrating to know that it is trivially simple to include this as an option, and the reason that this was never included as an option is pure arrogance.

Since this question was never officially answered, I will ask it again:

Is there a way to turn off the auto-formatting "feature" in which Excel automatically changes anything that it thinks looks like a date into a date (registry hack, software patch, ANYTHING).

Hi all,

I have just been reading this any many other forums/posts about the problem of Excel autoformatting some sort of text string to a date.

And yes, anywhere the "solution" is always to preformat the colums first (and I have actually seen quite many moderators and "experts" answering these posts getting quite offended when they are told, that it is not the solution asked for).

I often handle large amount of data in Excel compatible formats (often csv files), and it really annoys me (maybe I'm a bit too sensitive here :-) that I always have to use the Import function and preformatting each colum in the process (instead of actually justing having the ability to prevent Excel from formatting my data).

Yes, there may be alot of people just typing "11/4" for April 11th, but Excel is marketed as a professional tool too (and not just a tool for lazy home users), so I bet there is just as many people having data (or typing data) such as "4/88" "01-002" or whatever, which means EXACTLY "4/88" (e.g. packing quantities) or "01-002" (e.g. precise item number), who do NOT want this autoformatted (or whatever you choose to call the "feature").

A really nice feature/function for these more professional/serious users (and yes, I know home users can be quite serious too :-) would be the ability to disable Excel's desire to autoformat data as a "service" (and so far I haven't found any answers in all these fine support forums, which explains how to do exactly that).

Regards,

Kevin

I don't doubt that in many (possibly even most) cases, when someone enters 11/4, they want it to be a date.  In most cases, it is very useful.  That is irrelevant.  The point of this is that you should have the option to turn this off, in exactly the same manner as you can turn off auto-correct.  There is literally no reason for it not to be included as an option.  That is the point I'm trying to make.

Regardless, the question has been answered.  No one here answering these questions wrote the part of Excel that handles the auto-formatting of a text string to a date, so any complaining here would be useless.  Thank you for your time in answering my question.