Knowledge Base

WD97: Dates in Table Sort Incorrectly as Date Type

Article ID: 196015

Article Last Modified on 1/23/2007

Microsoft Word 97 Standard Edition

This article was previously published under Q196015

SYMPTOMS

Dates earlier than January 1, 1901, or later than December 31, 2035, are sorted incorrectly when you sort a list in a table as a Date type. (To locate this option, click Sort Text on the Table menu.)

For example, when you sort this list:

   May 1, 1504
   Jan 1, 1901
   April 2, 1400
   May 5, 1503
   Sept 6, 1966

The result appears like this:

   May 1, 1504
   April 2, 1400
   May 5, 1503
   Jan 1, 1901
   Sept 6, 1966

CAUSE

Word does not recognize dates earlier than January 1, 1901, or later than December 31, 2035, as valid dates.

WORKAROUND

Sort the dates as text.

STATUS

Microsoft has confirmed that this is a problem in the Microsoft products that are listed at the beginning of this article.

Keywords: kbbug kbnofix kbtable KB196015