Convert dates from Excel to Matlab

Question

I have a series of dates and some corresponding values. The format of the data in Excel is \"Custom\" dd/mm/yyyy hh:mm. When I try to convert this column into a

Answer 1

Minutes need to be called with a capital M to distinguish them from months. Use a=datestr(xlsread('filename.xlsx',1,'A:A'),'dd/mm/yyyy HH:MM')

Edit: Corrected my original answer, where I had mixed up the cases needed.