XL97: Description of the Value2 Property for the Range Object

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1. Close and save any open workbooks, and then create a new workbook.
2. Enter the following in Sheet1:

   A1: 1.23456789
   A2: 2/3/97

3. Click cell A1 and click cells on the Format menu. Then, on the Number tab, click Currency in the Category list, and click OK.
4. Click cell A2 and click cells on the Format menu.
5. Click the Number tab, click Date in the Category list, and click OK.
6. Start the Visual Basic Editor (press ALT+F11).
7. On the Insert menu, click Module.
8. Enter the following code in the Visual Basic module:

         Sub Value_vs_Value2()
   
            MsgBox "Currency returned by Value property = " &_
               Sheet1.Range("A1").Value
   
            MsgBox "Currency returned by Value2 property = " & _
               Sheet1.Range("A1").Value2
   
            MsgBox "Date returned by Value property = " &_
               Sheet1.Range("A2").Value
   
            MsgBox "Date returned by Value2 property = " &_
               Sheet1.Range("A2").Value2
   
         End Sub
   						

9. Run the Value_vs_Value2 macro. To do this, click Macros on the Tools menu. Click Value_vs_Value2 and click Run.

The macro displays the following messages in order: The underlying cell value in cell A1 is 1.23456789, however, the Value property returns 1.2346. This is true because Microsoft Excel stores currency numbers in an integer format that is scaled by 10,000 to produce a fixed-point number with 15 digits to the left of the decimal and 4 digits to the right of the decimal. For cells formatted as currency, the Value2 property returns the actual underlying cell value.

The underlying cell value in cell A2 is the serial number for 2/3/97, which is 35431. The Value property returns a date formatted with the short date format. The Value2 property, for cells formatted as a date, returns the underlying serial number for the date.