diff --git a/spiffworkflow-frontend/src/config.tsx b/spiffworkflow-frontend/src/config.tsx
index 0833d055..02fca38f 100644
--- a/spiffworkflow-frontend/src/config.tsx
+++ b/spiffworkflow-frontend/src/config.tsx
@@ -80,6 +80,7 @@ const PROCESS_STATUSES = [
 
 // with time: yyyy-MM-dd HH:mm:ss
 let generalDateFormat = 'yyyy-MM-dd';
+// let generalDateFormat = 'dd-MMM-yyyy';
 if (
   'spiffworkflowFrontendJsenv' in window &&
   'DATE_FORMAT' in window.spiffworkflowFrontendJsenv
diff --git a/spiffworkflow-frontend/src/services/DateAndTimeService.test.tsx b/spiffworkflow-frontend/src/services/DateAndTimeService.test.tsx
index 1264b096..137ec329 100644
--- a/spiffworkflow-frontend/src/services/DateAndTimeService.test.tsx
+++ b/spiffworkflow-frontend/src/services/DateAndTimeService.test.tsx
@@ -1,5 +1,42 @@
 import DateAndTimeService from './DateAndTimeService';
 
+test('it can tell if a string looks like a date', () => {
+  const validDates = [
+    '2024-06-01',
+    '14-06-2024',
+    '1-06-2024',
+    '14-6-2024',
+    '14-Jun-2024',
+    '14-March-2024',
+    'March 4, 2024',
+    '4 March 2024',
+    '04/03/2024',
+    '04.03.2024',
+  ];
+  validDates.forEach((dateString: string) => {
+    try {
+      expect(DateAndTimeService.stringLooksLikeADate(dateString)).toBe(true);
+    } catch (exception) {
+      throw Error(`Date failed: ${dateString}: ${exception}`);
+    }
+  });
+
+  const invalidDates = [
+    '2024-06-0',
+    '2024-6-01',
+    '14-06-202',
+    '14-Jun-202',
+    '14#06#20204',
+  ];
+  invalidDates.forEach((dateString: string) => {
+    try {
+      expect(DateAndTimeService.stringLooksLikeADate(dateString)).toBe(false);
+    } catch (exception) {
+      throw Error(`Date failed: ${dateString}: ${exception}`);
+    }
+  });
+});
+
 test('it can keep the correct date when converting seconds to date', () => {
   const dateString =
     DateAndTimeService.convertSecondsToFormattedDateString(1666325400);
@@ -25,6 +62,7 @@ test('it can properly format a duration', () => {
 test('it can get the correct date format from string', () => {
   const expectedDateString = '2024-03-04';
   const newDateFormat = 'dd-MMM-yyyy';
+  const marchDate = 'March 4, 2024';
 
   expect(
     DateAndTimeService.attemptToConvertUnknownDateStringFormatToKnownFormat(
@@ -38,7 +76,7 @@ test('it can get the correct date format from string', () => {
   ).toEqual(expectedDateString);
   expect(
     DateAndTimeService.attemptToConvertUnknownDateStringFormatToKnownFormat(
-      'March 4, 2024',
+      marchDate,
     ),
   ).toEqual(expectedDateString);
   expect(
@@ -65,7 +103,7 @@ test('it can get the correct date format from string', () => {
   ).toEqual(expectedDateString);
   expect(
     DateAndTimeService.attemptToConvertUnknownDateStringFormatToKnownFormat(
-      'March 4, 2024',
+      marchDate,
       newDateFormat,
     ),
   ).toEqual(expectedDateString);
diff --git a/spiffworkflow-frontend/src/services/DateAndTimeService.tsx b/spiffworkflow-frontend/src/services/DateAndTimeService.tsx
index d8bc418b..1c06a07e 100644
--- a/spiffworkflow-frontend/src/services/DateAndTimeService.tsx
+++ b/spiffworkflow-frontend/src/services/DateAndTimeService.tsx
@@ -14,6 +14,18 @@ const FOUR_HOURS_IN_SECONDS = SECONDS_IN_HOUR * 4;
 const REFRESH_INTERVAL_SECONDS = 5;
 const REFRESH_TIMEOUT_SECONDS = FOUR_HOURS_IN_SECONDS;
 
+const stringLooksLikeADate = (dateString: string): boolean => {
+  // We had been useing date-fns parse to really check if a date is valid however it attempts to parse dates like 14-06-2 because it thinks it is 14-06-0002.
+  // This results in a validate date but has a negative time with getTime which is a valid number however we do not want dates like this at all.
+  // Checking for negative numbers seem wrong so use a regex to see if it looks anything like a date.
+  return (
+    (dateString.match(/^\d{4}[-/.]\d{2}[-/.]\d{2}$/) ||
+      dateString.match(/^(\d{1,2}|\w+)[-/.](\d{1,2}|\w+)[-/.]\d{4}$/) ||
+      dateString.match(/^\w+ +\d+, +\d{4}$/) ||
+      dateString.match(/^\d+ +\w+ +\d{4}$/)) !== null
+  );
+};
+
 const convertDateToSeconds = (date: any, onChangeFunction: any = null) => {
   let dateInSeconds = date;
   if (date !== null) {
@@ -44,7 +56,11 @@ const dateStringToYMDFormat = (dateString: string) => {
   if (dateString === undefined || dateString === null) {
     return dateString;
   }
-  if (dateString && dateString.match(/^\d{4}-\d{2}-\d{2}$/)) {
+
+  if (
+    dateString.match(/^\d{4}-\d{2}-\d{2}$/) ||
+    !stringLooksLikeADate(dateString)
+  ) {
     return dateString;
   }
   const newDate = parse(dateString, DATE_FORMAT, new Date());
@@ -160,7 +176,7 @@ const attemptToConvertUnknownDateStringFormatToKnownFormat = (
   }
   let newDateString = dateString;
   // if the date starts with 4 digits then assume in y-m-d format and avoid all of this
-  if (dateString.length >= 10 && !dateString.match(/^\d{4}/)) {
+  if (stringLooksLikeADate(dateString) && !dateString.match(/^\d{4}/)) {
     // if the date format should contain month names or abbreviations but does not have letters
     // then attempt to parse in the same format but with digit months instead of letters
 
@@ -252,6 +268,7 @@ const DateAndTimeService = {
   formatDateTime,
   formatDurationForDisplay,
   secondsToDuration,
+  stringLooksLikeADate,
   ymdDateStringToConfiguredFormat,
 };