Question : Excel control returns only a string

I have an activex combo box linking to a cell that is formatted to be a number. The list is forced to display as a date but the return is a #. It continues to show up as number formatted as text in the linked cell. If I hit ENTER in the linked cell it quickly changes to a # and all my formulas then work fine. The only way I get around it is below. Any better way or what am I missing.

B124 on the control sheet is the linked cell. Again it is a formatted # cell.
F_startDate has a list of dates that I force to show as xx/xx/xx

thanks experts

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Private Sub F_StartDate_Change()
    F_StartDate.Value = Format(F_StartDate.Value, "mm/dd/yyyy")
    Sheets("control").Range("B124").Value = Sheets("control").Range("B124").Value
End Sub

Answer : Excel control returns only a string

Since a combobox returns a string, it's not surprising that the linked cell is getting messed up. I suggest not linking the combobox to a cell, but instead using VBA code to update the value.

The snippet below shows both a KeyUp and LostFocus sub so the date cell (A1 in the code) is updated when you are done typing in the combobox.

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Private Sub ComboBox1_KeyUp(ByVal KeyCode As MSForms.ReturnInteger, ByVal Shift As Integer)
Dim v As Variant
If KeyCode <> 13 Then Exit Sub
On Error Resume Next
v = CDate(ComboBox1.Value)
If Not IsError(v) Then Range("A1").Value = v
On Error GoTo 0
Range("A1").Select
End Sub

Private Sub ComboBox1_LostFocus()
Dim v As Variant
On Error Resume Next
v = CDate(ComboBox1.Value)
If Not IsError(v) Then Range("A1").Value = v
On Error GoTo 0
End Sub