XL98: Readme for Microsoft Excel 98 Date Watch Wizard
  
PSS ID Number: Q193328
Article last modified on 10-06-1998
 
MACINTOSH:98
 
MACINTOSH
 

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The information in this article applies to:
 
 - Microsoft Excel 98 Macintosh Edition
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SUMMARY
=======
 
This article contains the text of the Date Watch Readme file that is
included with the Microsoft Date Watch Wizard for Microsoft Excel 98
Macintosh Edition.
 
For more information about the Date Watch Wizard, please see the
following article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:
 
  ARTICLE-ID: Q193344
  TITLE     : XL98: Year 2000 Wizards for Microsoft Excel
 
MORE INFORMATION
================
 
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                   MICROSOFT EXCEL 98 DATE WATCH WIZARD
                              September 1998
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                      (c) Microsoft Corporation, 1998
 
The Date Watch Wizard is an add-in program for Microsoft Excel 98 that runs
in the background while you work and does the following:
 
* Suggests alternatives when you enter text dates that are year-ambiguous.
 
* Suggests alternatives when you type certain worksheet functions and the
  text dates in the functions are year-ambiguous.
 
* Changes number formats to four-year date formats when you type two-digit
  dates.
 
* Displays an alert when you open text files that contain two-digit years.
 
Because of a change in the date algorithm in Excel 98, dates entered as
text might produce different results than they did in earlier versions of
Excel.
 
In Excel, you can enter dates more quickly by typing two digits for the
year. When you type a two-digit year, Excel interprets the century that the
date belongs to according to a date algorithm. Because many people enter
dates that may be up to 30 years in the future, Microsoft changed the date
algorithm in Excel 98 to more accurately interpret dates through the year
2029.
 
While text dates are acceptable in date-related functions, they are
uncommon. A "text date" is either a date entered within quotation marks ("
") as an argument in a function or any text string that Excel can recognize
as a date. For example, if you format a cell as text and then enter a date,
the result is a text date. (If you enter a date in a blank cell with no
existing number format, the result is a numeric-value date.) Excel stores
most dates as numeric values, which are not impacted by issues that affect
text dates. In some cases -- for example, in data imported from other
sources, such as mainframe databases -- dates may be imported as text.
 
For more information about how Excel works with dates, see the following
Excel Help topics:
 
     How Microsoft Excel performs date and time calculations
 
     Tips on entering dates and times
 
For more information about converting text-formatted dates to general
formatted dates, see the following Excel Help topic:
 
     Troubleshoot formatting numbers, dates, and times
 
and then click:
 
     Numbers aren't displayed or calculated as numeric values.
 
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CONTENTS
--------
 
Background
Affected functions
Important note
Instructions
 
----------
BACKGROUND
----------
 
Functions that use text dates with a two-digit year between 20 and 29 are
interpreted differently in Microsoft Excel 98 than in earlier versions of
Excel. The following algorithm is used to interpret these dates in Excel 5
and earlier:
 
   Two-digit year   Century assumed   Example   Result
   --------------   ---------------   -------   ------
   <= 19            2000              1/1/15    January 1, 2015
   > 19             1900              1/1/20    January 1, 1920
 
In Excel 98, the algorithm was changed to:
 
   Two-digit year   Century assumed   Example   Result
   --------------   ---------------   -------   ---------------
   <= 29            2000              1/1/20    January 1, 2020
   > 29             1900              1/1/30    January 1, 1930
 
The Date Watch Wizard runs in the background as you:
 
* Type dates with two-digit years, then automatically formats these dates
  as four-digit years.
 
* Type text-formatted dates with two-digit years in the affected range,
  then prompts you to format the date as a four-digit year.
 
* Type worksheet functions that accept text dates as arguments, then alerts
  you if text dates in the affected range have two-digit years. You can
  then   validate the accuracy of the results of these functions under the
  new algorithm in Excel 98.
 
* Open text files, then alerts you if the files contain two-digit years.
 
------------------
AFFECTED FUNCTIONS
------------------
 
The following worksheet functions accept text dates in one or more of their
arguments. These functions are potentially affected by date migration
issues.
 
ACCRINT        ACCRINTM       AMORDEGRC      AMORLINC
COUPDAYBS      COUPDAYS       COUPDAYSNC     COUPNCD
COUPNUM        COUPPCD        DATEVALUE      DAY
DAYS360        DISC           DURATION       EDATE
EOMONTH        INTRATE        MDURATION      NETWORKDAYS
ODDFPRICE      ODDFYIELD      ODDLPRICE      ODDLYIELD
PRICE          PRICEDISC      PRICEMAT       RECEIVED
TBILLEQ        TBILLPRICE     TBILLYIELD     WEEKDAY
WEEKNUM        WORKDAY        XIRR           XNPV
YEAR           YEARFRAC       YIELD          YIELDDISC
YIELDMAT
 
The Date Watch Wizard recognizes when you type any of these functions,
examines each argument, and then alerts you if the function contains a text
date that has two-digit years within the range of 20 through 29. The wizard
ignores any instance of four-digit years.
 
NOTE: The wizard does not locate or examine the following date functions:
DATE, DAY, MONTH, NOW, and TODAY. These functions are unaffected by the
change in the date algorithm.
 
---------------
IMPORTANT NOTE
---------------
 
The author of the worksheets or workbooks is the best person to determine
whether the functions within the workbooks are calculating correctly.
 
------------
INSTRUCTIONS
------------
 
After you download Date Watch from the Microsoft Software Library, you must
copy the wizard to the proper folder and then load it before you can run
it.
 
To load the wizard
------------------
 
1. Copy "Date Watch" to the "Microsoft Office 98:Office:Excel Add-ins"
   folder.
 
2. Start Excel.
 
3. On the Tools menu, click Add-Ins.
 
4. Select the Date Watch check box.
 
To run the wizard
-----------------
 
1. On the Tools menu, point to Date Migration, and then click Date Watch.
 
2. In the Date Watch dialog box, select any or all of the following
   options:
 
   * As new dates are entered, change to four-digit year format
 
   * Alert for all date functions that will calculate differently in Excel
     98 than previous versions
 
   * Display date warning when files are opened
 
3. Click OK to start the wizard.
 
NOTE: The second option also alerts you if you type in a cell a text-
formatted date that contains a two-digit year.
 
NOTE: While the Date Fix Wizard, Date Scan Wizard and Date Watch are
helpful for year 2000 auditing, running these tools does not guarantee year
2000 compliance. See http://www.microsoft.com/y2k for more year 2000
auditing information.
 
Additional query words: XL98
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Keywords          : kbdta kb2000 xladdins 
Version           : MACINTOSH:98
Platform          : MACINTOSH
Issue type        : kbinfo
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Copyright Microsoft Corporation 1998.