Microsoft Year 2000 Readiness Disclosure & Resource Center

Product Summary

Product: Word 97 Version: 8.0 Category: Compliant* Operating System: 32-Bit Win Language: English Release Date: 01 Nov 1996 Operational Range: 01 Jan 1901 - 31 Dec 2035 Prerequisites: Office 97 Service Release 2 Product Dependencies: Windows 95, Windows 98, or Windows NT 3.51 with SP 5 or greater, or Windows NT 4 (no specific SP is required, though SP 4 is recommended) Clock Dependencies: System clock Last Updated: 22 Sep 1999

Product Details

Product Maintenance: While Microsoft continues to recommend that customers install the most current Service Pack/Release for non-Year 2000 reasons, we understand that, for many reasons, this may not be possible. In order to aid our customersÆ Year 2000 efforts, Microsoft intends to maintain Office 97 Service Release 2 as compliant through January 1, 2001. Newer Service Packs are also to be maintained as compliant, and may include additional non-Year 2000 updates. This is intended to minimize the Year 2000 as a reason to upgrade. Prerequisites: Download the Office 97 SR2 Patch from http://officeupdate.microsoft.com/Articles/sr2fact.htm. The changes in Office 97 that were made in SR 2, including Year 2000 updates, are listed in http://support.microsoft.com/support/kb/articles/q151/0/20.asp. All Year 2000 issues reported as fixed in SR2 exist in SR1 and in the base Office 97 product. How the product handles dates: Storage.  Date and time values for date usage in Microsoft Word are stored either as simple text strings or as a 32-bit integer.  This convention means that the date is represented by a 4-digit year, eliminating the risk of date errors.   If the date information is stored in a 32-bit integer, the data is represented by bit fields that have the following ranges: Hours: 0-23      Minutes: 0-59 Seconds: 0-59 Weekday: 0(Sun)-6(Sat) Day of Month: 1-31 Year: 1900-2411      Unless otherwise noted, features within Microsoft Word that manipulate dates store the dates as a 32-bit integer. What this means is dates saved with versions of documents retain their 4-digit year designations, regardless of display.  Similarly, revision marking date information retains the 4-digit year designations. String date parsing. Other date values, such as might be imported from another program or entered with an Insert Date/Time command, are simple text. Therefore, they are not handled as date values. The one exception is with the Table/Sort command. In this command, text strings can be interpreted as date values. Two-digit years from 00 to 29 are assumed to be the years 2000û2029. To change this behavior, users should correct 2-digit years to 4-digit years. There is no validation of the dates in Table/Sort. For example, although a date of 2/30/2000 is invalid, it would still be sorted before 3/1/2000. Table/Sort interprets the range of years 1900-2035. A date window of 1930-2029 is used for interpretation of 2-digit dates when using Date formatting (picture switch) of Quote Fields. Saving to an earlier version of Microsoft Word, or upgrading, will not have an affect on dates within a document. Date field information and file properties will be retained and correctly recognized. Two-digit shortcut handling: Conversion of 2-digit shortcut dates (primarily in table sort and in Microsoft Word fields) assumes a date window of 1930 through 2029. Common date usage errors: In general, the entry, importing or formatting of years as 2 digits should be discouraged or eliminated where date calculation dependencies in the user solutions exist. Since most document content, including data entered through Insert Date/Time and Text Form Fields, is stored as plain text, the century information could be improperly derived or assumed by the user solution. Use of Microsoft Word date field types and pre-defined document and file properties for document-related date calculations will ensure that the available information represents a true date. Because Microsoft Word date fields do not support date arithmetic, the use of nested formula fields (expressions) in earlier documentation has been suggested to accomplish adding or subtracting days, months, or years to dates. Because simple arithmetic calculations are not calendar-aware, this method is prone to Year 2000-type errors, particularly with 2-digit year values, and is no longer recommended.   Testing guidelines and recommendations: In general, avoid testing in a production environment because side effects with other noncompliant products cannot be predicted. Interoperability testing with other Microsoft Office products can be conducted safely.   The following areas should be looked at to verify that dates are being properly used. The following table can be used to guide testing of Word within your organization. Area Subarea Testing notes Edit Insert Date and Time Table Sort AutoComplete Insert Date and Time can insert the current date as text formatted as a date or as a date field that can be updated. Table Sort can interpret text strings as a date and can sort in chronological order, ascending or descending. Two digits can be interpreted as years. The digits 00 through 20 are interpreted as being in the 2000s. Table Sort recognizes the years 1900 through 2035. AutoComplete has a trigger for the current date. File File Native RTF Text Conversions Graphics Filters Versions Document Properties Revision Marking Date information is stored in the document for creation date, revision date, and the date the document was last printed. Dates are written to RTF in a 4-digit format. Date information is stored with text that is marked for revisions. The date information appears in a ToolTip next to the revised text. When multiple versions of a document are saved, date information is saved with each version. This date information can be viewed in the Versions dialog box. Fields Date/Time Fields Formula Fields Summary Information Fields Text Form Fields Field Picture Switches Many fields manipulate date and time information, including:   { CREATEDATE } { SAVEDATE } { PRINTDATE } { DATE } { TIME } { EDITTIME }   { DOCPROPERTY "CreateTime" } { DOCPROPERTY "LastPrinted" } { DOCPROPERTY "LastSavedTime" } { DOCPROPERTY "TotalEditingTime" }   { INFO CreateDate } { INFO EditTime } { INFO PrintDate } { INFO SaveDate }   In the German language, the following fields are not available:   { DOCPROPERTY "TotalEditingTime" } { EDITTIME } { INFO EditTime }   Quote fields and text form fields are text fields that can be formatted as dates by using field picture switches. Formula fields are designed to calculate text or numbers. Macros Visual Basic for Applications (VBA) WordBasic VBA methods and properties that manipulate date and time information are: Application.OnTime Conversion.Cdate Conversion.CVDate DateTime DateTime.Calendar DateTime.Date DateTime.Date$ DateTime.DateAdd DateTime.DateDiff DateTime.DatePart DateTime.DateSerial DateTime.DateValue DateTime.Day DateTime.Hour DateTime.Minute DateTime.Month DateTime.Now DateTime.Second DateTime.Time DateTime.Time$ DateTime.Timer DateTime.TimeSerial DateTime.TimeValue DateTime.WeekDay DateTime.Year FileSystem.FileDateTime Information.IsDate LetterContent.DateFormat Mailer.SendDateTime Range.InsertDateTime Revision.Date Selection.InsertDateTime VbVarType.vbDate Version.Date WdBuiltInProperty.wdPropertyTimeCreated WdBuiltInProperty.wdPropertyTimeLastPrinted WdBuiltInProperty.wdPropertyTimeLastSaved WdBuiltInStyle.wdStyleDate WdFieldType.wdFieldCreateDate WdFieldType.wdFieldDate WdFieldType.wdFieldEditTime WdFieldType.wdFieldPrintDate WdFieldType.wdFieldSaveDate WdFieldType.wdFieldTime WdSortFieldType.wdSortFieldDate WdTextFormFieldType.wdCurrentDateText WdTextFormFieldType.wdCurrentTimeText WdTextFormFieldType.wdDateText WdWordDialog.wdDialogInsertDateTime   WordBasic commands that manipulate date and time information are: AppInfo$(21-26) Date$() DateSerial() DateValue() Day() Days360() DocumentStatistics .Created, .LastSaved, .Printed, .Time GetDocumentProperty$ CreateTime, LastSavedTime, LastPrinted Hour() InsertDateField InsertDateTime InsertTimeField Minute() Month() Now() OnTime Second() Time$() TimeSerial() TimeValue() Today() ToolsRevisionDate() ToolsRevisionDate$() Weekday() Year() Mail Doc Routing Mail Merge Outlook Journal Posting SendMail WordMail Mail messages can be sent from within Word. Date and time functionality that is available with Word is also available within WordMail. Internal Boot/Quit DDE Environment OLE No applicable notes. Print Document Property The date that the document was last printed is saved with the document. Templates Templates In templates, 2-digit and 4-digit years are inserted. These dates can be modified if necessary. View Header/Footer Footnotes/Endnotes Comments Status Bar The { CREATEDATE }, { DATE }, and { PRINTDATE } fields can be inserted into a documentÆs header or footer via the Header and Footer toolbar. These fields are identical to the fields inserted via the Field dialog box. The current date is displayed on the Word status bar in Windows NT 3.51. Wizards Calendar Wizard Letter Wizard Fax Wizard A range of dates can be selected to use with the Calendar Wizard. The Letter Wizard can insert a date into a document. The inserted date is a text string that is formatted as a date. The Fax Wizard inserts a date into a document. The inserted date can be a 2-digit or 4-digit year. Word 97 uses a number of Microsoft Office 97 shared files for the implementation of dialogs and toolbars, task automation, online help, installation, graphics, file find and file I/O. For additional information that is appropriate for Word 97, please refer either to the document for the particular Office version that this application came with, or, in the case of a standalone product, to any version 97 Microsoft Office document.

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ANY MICROSOFT YEAR 2000 STATEMENTS MADE TO YOU IN THE COURSE OF PROVIDING YEAR 2000 RELATED UPDATES, YEAR 2000 DIAGNOSTIC TOOLS, OR REMEDIATION SERVICES (IF ANY) ARE SUBJECT TO THE YEAR 2000 INFORMATION AND READINESS DISCLOSURE ACT (112 STAT. 2386). IN CASE OF A DISPUTE, THIS ACT MAY REDUCE YOUR LEGAL RIGHTS REGARDING THE USE OF ANY SUCH STATEMENTS, UNLESS OTHERWISE SPECIFIED BY YOUR CONTRACT OR TARIFF.

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