Microsoft Year 2000 Readiness Disclosure & Resource Center

Product Summary

Product: Outlook Version: 97 Category: Compliant* Operating System: 32-Bit Win Language: Vietnamese Release Date: 12 Sep 1997 Operational Range: 01 Apr 1601 - 31 Aug 4500 Prerequisites: OUTLLIB.DLL version 8.0.0.6108 Product Dependencies: Windows 95, Windows 98, or Windows NT 4.0 Clock Dependencies: Operating System Clock Last Updated: 21 Sep 1999

Product Details

How the product handles dates: Storage. Dates in Outlook 97 are stored and manipulated as full 4-digit year dates. Dates are integral to the productÆs operation. The system clock is used for current date and time data. Formatting. Dates are displayed in short date format (2-digit years) and long date format (4-digit years) specified in the Regional Settings applet in the Control Panel. Date entry fields parse and accept inputs that follow the formats specified in the Regional Settings applet. Parsing on date entry. Obtain the updated OUTLLIB.DLL version 8.0.0.6108from http://www.microsoft.com/Thailand/download/o97v6108.exe to properly handle short dates (years represented in 2 digits) when scheduling events that span the century boundary. For 2-digit year entries, Outlook employs a 2-digit date window that spans from 30 years prior to, and 70 years forward from, a reference date. Each date fieldÆs reference date is either the current date or a related date field. If a date is entered that does not match the systems date format, a standard algorithm is used to attempt to discern a valid date from what the user input. Only if no valid date can be made is a notifciation message generated. The date range for printing an Outlook calendar is limited to 30 years prior to and 70 years forward from the current date.   Two-digit shortcut handling: To interpret 2-digit year entries, Outlook employs a 2-digit date window that spans from 30 years prior to and 70 years forward from a reference date. Each date fieldÆs reference date is either the current date or a related date field. If a date is entered that does not match the systems date format, a standard algorithm is used to attempt to discern a valid date from what the user input. Only if no valid date can be made is a notification message generated. Certain features in Outlook are designed to use different parsing algorithms that better fit their particular context. The Birthday and Anniversary fields employ a window that includes 95 years back and 5 years forward from the current date, while the Inbox Assistant and Out of Office AssistantÆs Advanced rule settings use the range of 1980-2079.   Common date usage errors: In Outlook version 8.0 without the updated OUTLLIB.DLL, when the system clock has a year of 2000 or greater, Outlook parses dates that are entered with 2-digit years as 20xx. For example, if you enter 12/25/99 into a date field, the date will be parsed and stored as 12/25/2099 (not 12/25/1999). There are two areas of Outlook in which this parsing behavior commonly manifests itself: Several places in the Outlook user interface parse date entries and will show this behavior. For example, in the calendar module, if you choose "Go To Date" from the View menu and type in "12/25/99", Outlook will take you to the day 12/25/2099. Because 2-digit years are parsed in this way, if you have custom forms that make calculations based on dates, these calculations are subject to the interpretation made. When a date is entered and displayed using only 2-digit years, there is no visual prompt that the date has been parsed to the next century. For example (again, when the system clock has a year of 2000 or greater), suppose a form allows a user to enter a purchase date, and then uses script to calculate a warranty date 1 year in the future. If this form only shows 2 digits for the year entered, then the user can type 12/1/99 in the purchase date and the warranty date is calculated as 12/1/2100. This is because the original date was parsed as 12/1/2099. Since the form only shows 2-digit years for dates, both dates appear to be correct and display as 12/1/99 and 12/1/00, however, the dates are stored and evaluated internally as 12/1/2099 and 12/1/2100. The updated OUTLLIB.DLL version 8.0.0.6108changes the parsing behavior to the expected results. For end-to-end compliance when using Outlook 97 as your e-mail client, you need to use a Year 2000 compliant mail server, including Microsoft Exchange Server 5.0 Service Pack 2 or greater. Note that other parts of e-mail connectivity also need to be Year 2000 compliant, for example, client transports, server connectors, gateways, etc. When creating and using custom forms that store or display dates, avoid using text fields to store date data. If dates are stored in text fields and a script uses this field to calculate another field, the calculation result may not be correct. The Microsoft Outlook Support for Lotus cc:Mail from the Outlook 97 ValuPack has no known Year 2000 issues with the installation of the update referenced in the following Microsoft Knowledge Base article: http://support.microsoft.com/support/kb/articles/q190/8/84.asp.   Testing guidelines and recommendations: In general, avoid testing in a production environment because one cannot predict side effects with non-compliant products. Interoperability testing with other Microsoft Office products and with Exchange Server can be conducted safely. Note that reminders for future appointments may be set off during this testing and will not re-notify when date is set back. Additionally, users should enter dates using 4-digit year information instead of using a truncated 2-digit year format. Furthermore, developers should use these specific year formats on form controls to help ensure the correct/desired date is entered and recorded. If you use Outlook to send or view Microsoft Exchange Forms Designer (EFD) custom forms, please note that the Microsoft Exchange Forms Designer is a Visual Basic 4.0 16-bit application. It will default 2-digit dates to the century of the current system date. The 2-digit year and 4-digit date fields on custom Exchange Forms Designer are stored as string values. These custom date fields will not sort or filter as expected. Please see the Visual Basic (16-bit) Product Guide for details on Visual Basic 4.0 compliance issues. See the Microsoft Exchange Server Product Guide for details on server date handling characteristics. If you install Microsoft Internet Explorer, see the Internet Explorer Product Guide for details on Internet Explorer date handling characteristics. Outlook 97 uses a number of Microsoft Office 97 shared files for the implementation of task automation, online help, installation, graphics, file find and file I/O. For additional information that is appropriate for Outlook 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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