Hi Christer,
 
  
	As far as I know, database writers (e.g. SQL Server) convert automatically a datetime string formatted in YYYYmmdd / YYYYmmddHHMMSS to a datetime value, when writing the value into datetime type field.  	   	I tested Excel writer in FME 2013 SP4, Windows Xp SP3.
 
	Input datetime string format is YYYYmmddHHMMSS in all cases.
 
  
	Results:
 
	1) XLS_ADO writer, Excel version 97/2000/2002/2003 (*.xls)
 
	Writer User Attribute Type = datetime
 
	The value is written as a datetime value. But the field format cannot be specified in FME, it has to be modified manually after writing if necessary.
 
  
	2) XLS_ADO writer, Excel version 2007 (*.xlsx)
 
	Writer User Attribute Type = datetime
 
	The value is written as a character string. Why?
 
  
	3) XLSXW writer (new Excel writer added in FME 2013 SP2)
 
	Writer User Attribute Type = datetime
 
	The value is written as a datetime value, and also the field format (e.g. yyyy-mm-dd) can be specified in the writer feature type dialog box.
 
  
	Traditional XLS_ADO writer is currently deprecated. I recommend you to use new XLSXW writer, if possible.
 
  
	Takashi
                
     
                                    
            Hi,
 
 
Having just specified the date format for a 
lot of dates in my workspace, I really miss a way of specifying the 
default date format for writing to Excel.
 
 
Regards,
 
Steinar