How do I ensure the cell value of downloaded item that occasionally is formatted as Custom date (1 cell), is formatted as General

[gsdanger]

Good Day all,
I download into excel the value of a cell from the web. Normally the cell data is formatted as General. However, occasionally the originators of this data format this cell as Custom - as a date).
This is very frustrating, as I want the imported data to be formatted as General. I have tried to re-format the cell however it doesn't respond to the new formatted request.
Examples:
The cell value before I download it is: 3: 0-1-2 ( I have the destination cell formatted as General).
What I get is 1/02/2022 3:00 (it is formatted as Custom: d/mm/yyyy h:mm)
When I attempt to re-format this cell to General, it get: 44593.125

I was thinking of using IFERROR to try and fix this problem. However, not sure if this will work, as it isn't actually an error, just the wrong format.
I was also thinking of setting a default value into my spreadsheet when this problem arises (would like it to default to: 0: 0-0-0).

Can anyone assist me with this problem as it is very frustrating.....it's doing my head in!!

Kind Regards.
gsdanger

 

[Anthony47]

The only reliable way for importing info from the web is considering them as "text"
Thus when you set the information in the cell, add the text marker; I use this format:
Instead of (for example) Range("A2").Value = myItem.innerText

Range("A2").Value = chr(39) & myItem.innerText

Of course you can perform other actions, if you know the type of information you are dealing with; for example, if it is a stock price then you will convert the info into a number

Range("A2").Value = CSng(myItem.innerText)

Bye