There is a quiet moment every spreadsheet user knows: the one where a solution that should work simply refuses to, and the frustration becomes almost physical. This user, new to Excel, followed the tutorials, placed the code where they thought it belonged, and still hit a wall. Their instinct to invert the column relationship and their confusion about why a basic function fails in one file but works in another are not signs of a lack of ability. They are signs of a system that demands more from its users than it should.
The real issue here is not the user's understanding of dates or macros. It is the assumption that a spreadsheet, even a modern one, should require this level of technical archaeology just to timestamp an edit. When someone has to wonder whether they are in the right section of the VBA editor, or why a fresh document works but their own file does not, the tool has failed them. The user is not lost because they are inexperienced; they are lost because the path was never made clear. That is not their shortcoming. It is the product's.
What this means for anyone reading is practical and direct: the problem is almost certainly not you. It could be a setting in that specific workbook, a conflict with existing code, or a version quirk that no tutorial mentioned. But the deeper takeaway is that this struggle is avoidable. If you find yourself fighting a tool to do something as simple as recording when a cell changes, that is a signal. The tool should bend to your workflow, not the other way around. And if it does not, then it is worth asking whether you are using the right tool for the job, rather than assuming you are the one who needs to adapt.
Our advice is to stop debugging the old way. Test the code in a brand new file to confirm it works, then bring it into your workbook piece by piece. Disable other macros, check for hidden sheets, and remember that a single typo in a module name can break everything. But more importantly, do not accept this friction as normal. A spreadsheet should feel like a partner, not a puzzle box. If it feels like the latter, that is not a reflection of your capability. It is a prompt to explore a solution that does not require you to lose your mind over a date.