Maureen,
Here's a solution for you. It involves using 8 formulas to separate the month/day/year of the French date, and to convert it to a normal Excel Date.
I can email you the file I have if you prefer, but here are the requirements...
1) You'll require a lookup-table for the French months. I'm not aware of the exact abbreviations used in the French version of Excel, but you should be able to get these abbreviations from viewing and copying your French dates (and removing the day and year). This way, you'll be sure to have the required special characters - e.g. the é in févr.
2) For your lookup table, place the month abbreviations in the left column and the corresponding month numbers in the right column (1-12). Place this table out of the way, off to the side.
3) Assign a range name to the table. In a formula below, I've used the name "mths".
4) Based on your dates being in Column A, enter the following formulas...
in B1: =FIND("-",A1,1)+1
in C1: =FIND("-",A1,FIND("-",A1,1)+1)
in D1: =MID(A1,B1,C1-B1)
in E1: =VLOOKUP(D1,mths,2,FALSE)
in F1: =VALUE(LEFT(A1,2))
in G1: =VALUE(RIGHT(A1,2))
in H1: =IF(OR(G1=0,G1=1,G1=2,G1=3),2000,G1)
in I1: =DATE(H1,E1,F1)
Note: The formula in H1 is required, otherwise the year will be 1900, 1901, etc. If you have dates beyond the current year, e.g. 2004, simply modify the formula and add the additional years - e.g.
=IF(OR(G1=0,G1=1,G1=2,G1=3,G1=4,G1=5,G1=6),2000,G1)
5) Next of course, you only need to copy the formulas down for as many dates as you have in Column A.
6) As the last step, you'll need to convert the formulas in Column I to values, before copying them to replace your French dates in Column A.
I hope this helps. Please advise as to how it fits.
Regards, ...Dale Watson dwatson@bsi.gov.mb.ca