Microsoft Year 2000 Readiness Disclosure & Resource Center

Product Summary

Product: PowerPoint 97 Version: 8.0 Category: Compliant* Operating System: 32-Bit Win Language: Thai Release Date: 21 Jul 1997 Operational Range: - Prerequisites: PP8TRANS.DLL Product Dependencies: Microsoft Thai Windows 95, Thai Windows 98, Thai Windows NT4(no specific SP is required) Clock Dependencies: see below Last Updated: 20 Sep 1999

Product Details

Operational Range for Data: System dependent Prerequisites: Download a new version of the translator, PP8TRANS.DLL available at http://officeupdate.microsoft.com/downloadDetails/pp8trans.htm in the PowerPoint download section. Clock Dependencies: Both OS and internal clocks are used. The internal clock is used only for time functions in slideshow rehearsal, animations and short delays. PowerPoint uses the Windows GetLocalTime call to get the current date and time from the system. Description of how the product handles dates: Storage.  Microsoft PowerPoint stores dates in string format or a metacharacter placeholder that obtains and displays the current system time as a string. PowerPoint 97 is calling the GetDateFormat system function to convert current date to a string according to the user-selected system settings.  All date handling undergoes the same function. 2-digit shortcut handling: Microsoft PowerPoint handles 2-digit dates for date field display only. User entry is text only and not considered a date representation. There is no conversion for user entry. Common date usage errors: Saving to nonnative formats (including PowerPoint 4.0) may cause loss of or incorrect century data for Insert Date and Time functionality. More specifically, presentations created in PowerPoint 95 or PowerPoint 97 after 1999 with "update automatically" date formats that contain 2-digit years will be incorrectly displayed in PowerPoint 4.0 as a 2-digit year preceded by a "1." For PowerPoint 97 to properly execute short dates after 1999 when saving to PowerPoint 4.0 format, a new version of the translator, Pp8trans.dll, must be downloaded. The translator can be downloaded from http://officeupdate.microsoft.com/downloadDetails/pp8trans.htm. User applications should not rely on the text date representation within a PowerPoint presentation because it is only available as plain text. Query, calculations, and other operations are best conducted by using standard document properties. Testing guidelines and recommendations: In general, avoid testing in a production environment or with nonduplicated production files because side effects with other 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 PowerPoint within your organization. Area Subarea Testing Notes File File Native Text Conversions Graphics Filters Versions Document Properties Send To Outlook Journal Posting Use presentations that contain all possible date formats as test files for open, save, file conversion, printing, and slide show functions. Include all date and time formats in test files. Include Far East date formats (for example, the Japanese Emperor and Taiwan date formats) and other international date formats in test files. Change the system date to a date prior to the year 2000. Create and save test files. Change the system date to the year 2000 or later and reopen the presentation. Change the system date to year 2000 or later. Create and save test files. Change the system date to a date prior to the year 2000 and reopen the presentation. Save test files in HTML format and reopen in different browsers. Reopen the test file under a localized system where the system clock is set to a date and time in the year 2000 or later. Edit   View Slide View Outline View Notes Page Slide Show Header and Footer Comments Insert Date and Time Comments Objects Tools Meeting Minder Slide Show   Other Issues. The following problems are not specific to a century change, but may be exposed when testing for Year 2000 issues. PowerPoint 97 may display dates improperly in the case where a date is inserted and a presentation is viewed in the same editing session but the date has changed. PowerPoint 97 may display the wrong day of the week when saving a presentation to PowerPoint 4.0 format. If the user inserts a date following a format that contains the day of the week, selects the "Update automatically" option, and then saves the file to PowerPoint 4.0 format, the day of the week is incremented by one. For example, Monday, April 13, 1998, becomes Tuesday, April 13, 1998. This is a generic date display issue that is not specifically related to the Year 2000. For more information, see Knowledge Base article Q184248. PowerPoint 97 may change the date and time format when the user inserts a date to update automatically and then saves the file to a PowerPoint 4.0 format. While the date will be correct, it may be in a different format than the one selected. For example, the date 04-98 may be changed to Apr-98. PowerPoint 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 PowerPoint 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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