XL98: Readme for Microsoft Excel 98 Date Fix Wizard
  
PSS ID Number: Q193330
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 Fix Readme file that is included
with the Microsoft Date Fix Wizard for Microsoft Excel 98 Macintosh
Edition.
 
For more information about the Date Fix 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 FIX WIZARD
                          September 1998
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                  (c) Microsoft Corporation, 1998
 
Excel 98 allows you to enter dates using two digits for the year. When you
enter a year using two digits, Excel 98 always assumes the century based on
the digits you type: if you enter 00-29, Excel 98 assumes the years 2000
through 2029; if you enter 30-99, Excel 98 assumes the years 1930 through
1999. For example, when you enter the date 1/1/25, the date is displayed as
1/1/25 and stored as January 1, 2025. However, because the date only shows
two digits for the year, it might be interpreted by users as January 1,
1925. You can use the Date Fix Wizard to quickly and easily change the date
format or modify the century that dates fall within.
 
This wizard has three functions:
 
1. To change all date formats that appear as 2-digit years to 4-digit
   years.
 
2. To modify serial number dates so that they fall within a specific
   century.
 
3. To create a report of saved workbooks that contain dates.
 
NOTE: While you can enter a text date in formulas and functions -- that is,
a date that has been entered within quotation marks (" ") -- the Date Fix
Wizard will not change these dates.
 
For more information about how Excel works with dates, see the 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 numeric-
formatted dates, see the 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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IMPORTANT NOTE
--------------
 
The best person to run the wizard and determine if dates within the
workbooks are correct is the author of the worksheets or workbooks.
 
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INSTRUCTIONS
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After you download the Date Fix Wizard from the Microsoft Software Library,
you must copy the wizard to the proper folder and then load the wizard
before you can run it.
 
To load the wizard
------------------
 
1. Copy "Date Fix Wizard" 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 Fix Wizard check box.
 
To run the wizard
-----------------
 
NOTE: For performance reasons, do not switch to another program while the
Date Fix Wizard is running. You must leave Excel running in the foreground
until the wizard is finished.
 
1. On the Tools menu, point to Date Migration, and then click Date Fix
   Wizard.
 
2. In step 2 of the wizard, do one of the following:
 
   * Click "Modify date values in a selected workbook" to modify
     the century the dates fall within.
 
   * Click "Modify date formats in a selected workbook" to change
     dates that are formatted to display as 2-digit years to 4-
     digit years.
 
   * Click "Scan for dates in a selected folder" to create a report
     of all workbooks in a folder that contain dates, including the
     range of dates within each workbook.
 
3. In step 3 of the wizard, do one of the following:
 
   * If you selected "Modify date values in a selected workbook" or
     "Modify date formats in a selected workbook," select the
     workbook you want to process, and then select either "Process
     entire workbook" or "Process only the selected range" to
     process a range of cells.
 
   * If you selected "Scan dates in a selected folder," select the
     folder you want to scan. To include any subfolders, select the
     "Include subfolders" check box.
 
4. In step 4 of the wizard, do one of the following:
 
   * If you selected "Scan for dates in a selected folder," click
     Finish to create a report. The length of time it takes to
     create a detailed report varies depending on the size of the
     folder.
 
   * If you selected "Modify date formats in a selected workbook,"
     click Finish to convert the date formats to 4-digit years.
     When finished, the Date Fix Wizard creates a report that lists
     all changed cells and the changes to the formats in the cells.
 
   * If you selected "Modify date values in a selected workbook,"
     do one of the following:
 
     - Click "Make all dates fall in the 20th century" to convert
       any dates in the 21st century to the 20th century.
 
     - Click "Make all dates fall in the 21st century" to convert
       any dates in the 20th century to the 21st century.
 
     - Click "Specify a cutoff year," and then enter a 2-digit
       value for the year. If the last two digits of the year are
       equal to or greater than the cutoff year value, the year
       will fall in the 20th century. If the last two digits of the
       year are less then the cutoff value, the date will fall in
       the 21st century.
 
    When finished, the Date Fix Wizard creates a report that lists
    all changed cells and the changes to the date values in the
    cells.
 
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          : kbfile kbdta kb2000 xladdins 
Version           : MACINTOSH:98
Platform          : MACINTOSH
Issue type        : kbinfo
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Copyright Microsoft Corporation 1998.