XL97: Readme.txt for Date Fix Wizard for Microsoft Excel 97

Article ID: Q182130

The information in this article applies to:

Microsoft Excel 97 for Windows

SUMMARY

This article contains the text of the Readme.txt file that is included with the Microsoft Excel 97 Date Fix Wizard.

For more information about the Date Fix Wizard, please see the following article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

   ARTICLE-ID: Q176943
   TITLE     : XL97: Year 2000 Wizards for Microsoft Excel 97

MORE INFORMATION

                ----------------------------------
                MICROSOFT EXCEL 97 DATE FIX WIZARD
                            April 1998
                ----------------------------------
                  (c) Microsoft Corporation, 1998

Excel 97 allows you to enter dates using two digits for the year. When you enter a year using two digits, Excel 97 always assumes the century based on the digits you type: if you enter 00-29, Excel 97 assumes the years 2000 through 2029; if you enter 30-99, Excel 97 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.

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.

INSTRUCTIONS

After you download Datefix.exe from the Microsoft Software Library and double-click it to extract Datefix.xla, the Date Fix Wizard, 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 Datefix.xla to the \Office\Library subfolder of your

   Microsoft Office folder (by default, C:\Program Files\Microsoft
   Office).

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.

Additional query words: XL97 2019 2020 2029 2030 1919 1920 1929 1930 2000 year 2000 Date Migration Dates y2k year2000

Keywords          : kbtool kb2000 xlformula xladdins 
Version           : WINDOWS:97
Platform          : WINDOWS