SUMMARY
Microsoft has developed three date migration add-in tools
that you can use with Microsoft Excel 98 Macintosh Edition. These can help you
prepare dates in Excel workbooks for transitioning from earlier versions of
Excel, or for auditing workbooks for the year 2000.
The Date Fix
Wizard allows you to change the date format of two-digit-year dates quickly and
easily or to modify serial number dates so that they fall within a specified
century.
The Date Migration Wizard handles specific kinds of dates
that are in workbooks created in earlier versions of Excel. These dates use
years that are two-digit numbers between 20 and 29.
The Date Watch
Wizard monitors your work for year-ambiguous dates and formats.
NOTES
- These wizards are designed for Microsoft Excel 98 Macintosh
Edition only. If you have Microsoft Excel 97 or Microsoft Excel 2000, please
click the article number below to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge
Base:
176943
XL: Year 2000 Wizards for Microsoft Excel 97 and 2000 Available for Download
- This article points to the latest versions of these
wizards, which replace any earlier versions. If you have previously downloaded
these wizards, you may want to make sure you have the latest
version.
MORE INFORMATION
When you use a two-digit year (20, 25, and so on) in
Microsoft Excel, different versions of Microsoft Excel may interpret the year
differently. For more information, please see the following article in the
Microsoft Knowledge Base:
302768
How Microsoft Excel works with two-digit year numbers
THE DATE FIX WIZARD ADD-IN
The Date Fix Wizard add-in for Microsoft Excel 98 allows you to
manage dates more effectively by giving you the means to do the following:
- Change all date formats that display years as two-digit
years to formats that display years as four-digit years. Note that this change
lessens the ambiguity that is associated with two-digit years because you can
easily see the century in which the years fall.
- Modify serial number dates so that they fall within a
specific century.
- Create a report of previously saved workbooks that contain
dates.
Downloading the Date Fix Wizard
The following
file is available for download from the Microsoft Download
Center:
For
additional information about how to download Microsoft Support files, click the
following article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:
119591 How to Obtain Microsoft Support Files from Online Services
Microsoft scanned this file for viruses. Microsoft used the most
current virus-detection software that was available on the date that the file
was posted. The file is stored on security-enhanced servers that help to
prevent any unauthorized changes to the file.
Installing and Using the Date Fix Wizard
After you download Datefix.hqx from the Microsoft Download Center
and extract the files contained in the download to extract the Date Fix Wizard,
copy the Date Fix Wizard and the Date Fix Readme files to the Office:Excel
Add-ins subfolder of the Microsoft Office folder. Then, load the wizard before
you run it.
Additional instructions for installing and using the
Date Fix Wizard are included in the Date Fix Readme file that is included with
the wizard.
THE DATE MIGRATION WIZARD ADD-IN
The Date Migration Wizard add-in for Microsoft Excel 98 helps you
ensure that dates with two-digit years are handled correctly when you open a
workbook that was created in an earlier version of Microsoft Excel. More
specifically, the Date Migration Wizard searches workbooks for functions that
contain two-digit years that fall within the range 20 through 29 in text dates.
(Excel 98 treats 2-digit years in this date range differently from earlier
versions of Excel).
Downloading the Date Migration Wizard
The following
file is available for download from the Microsoft Download
Center:
For
additional information about how to download Microsoft Support files, click the
following article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:
119591 How to Obtain Microsoft Support Files from Online Services
Microsoft scanned this file for viruses. Microsoft used the most
current virus-detection software that was available on the date that the file
was posted. The file is stored on security-enhanced servers that help to
prevent any unauthorized changes to the file.
Installing and Using the Date Migration Wizard
After you download Datescan.hqx from the Microsoft Download
Center and extract the files contained in the download to extract the Date
Migration Wizard, copy the Date Migration Wizard and the Date Migration Readme
files to the Office:Excel Add-ins subfolder of the Microsoft Office 98 folder.
Then, load the wizard before you run it.
Additional instructions for
installing and using the Date Migration Wizard are included in the Date
Migration Readme file that is included with the wizard.
THE DATE WATCH WIZARD ADD-IN
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.
Downloading the Date Watch Wizard
The following
file is available for download from the Microsoft Download
Center:
For
additional information about how to download Microsoft Support files, click the
following article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:
119591 How to Obtain Microsoft Support Files from Online Services
Microsoft scanned this file for viruses. Microsoft used the most
current virus-detection software that was available on the date that the file
was posted. The file is stored on security-enhanced servers that help to
prevent any unauthorized changes to the file.
Installing and Using the Date Watch Wizard
After you download Datewtch.hqx from the Microsoft Download
Center and extract the files contained in the download to extract the Date
Migration Wizard, copy the Date Watch and the Date Watch Readme files to the
Office:Excel Add-ins subfolder of the Microsoft Office 98 folder. Then, load
the wizard before you run it.
Additional instructions for installing
and using the Date Watch Wizard are included in the Date Watch Readme file that
is included with the wizard.
NOTE: While the Date Fix Wizard, Date Migration Wizard, and
Date Watch Wizard are helpful for year 2000 auditing, running these tools does
not guarantee year 2000 compliance.
The add-ins discussed in this
article are provided "as is," and Microsoft does not guarantee that they can be
used in all situations. Although Microsoft support professionals can help with
the installation and existing functionality of these add-ins, they will not
modify the add-ins to provide new functionality.
