I have a formula that I am using in Excel 2007 to indicate whether a person was contacted (Column V) and the date on which they were contacted (Column W). I do not want it to overwrite an existing date nor do I want it to change every date to the Today() date in previously entered cells. My current statement looks like this:=IF(V4="Y",TODAY(), "Not Yet"). The formula is in Cell W4 looking to Column V cells for validation which contains either a Y or an N. I can not figure out how to prevent it from overwriting all of the cells in the W column which already contain dates or cells that have a Y in column V I also can not prevent all of the cell dates from changing to the Today date when entering a Y (data validated) into any other cell in Column V. . How can I alter the formula to only enter the today() date into a cell that is blank and not overwrite cells that already contain dates in Column W.

Are you asking how you can enter a formula in column W without changing any dates that are there already? That would require VBA.

Your column W currently uses the sample formula?:
=IF(V4="Y",TODAY(), "Not Yet")

The only possible result of that formula is "Not Yet" and "today's date". So you will need a whole new formula, and any formula you use WILL replace anything else already there.

You should step back from your sheet for a moment and tell us briefly what the goal is, not the process. Simplest of all would be to post up a workbook with a before/after mockup of what you're trying to accomplish. Show us 5-10 rows of current data, then what you'd LIKE it to look like and then explain that.

That will be much clearer, I think, especially after we see your columns and the titles of those columns and get a clear view of the task at hand.