Microsoft Y2K  
Microsoft
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Microsoft Year 2000 Readiness Disclosure & Resource Center
Word (Macintosh) 98  (German) - Mac

Product Summary
Product: Word (Macintosh)
Version: 98
Category: Compliant
Operating System: Mac
Language: German Release Date: 01 Jan 1998
Operational Range: 01 Jan 1904 - 31 Dec 2035
Prerequisites: None
Product Dependencies: Apple Macintosh PowerPC Computers with Mac OS 7.5 to 8.1
Clock Dependencies: System Clock
Last Updated: 01 Oct 1999
Product Details

Description of how the product handles dates:

  • Storage. Date and time values for all date usage in Microsoft Word are stored either as simple text strings or as a 32-bit integer. 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 Mo.: 1-31

Year: 1900-2411

Unless otherwise noted, all features within Microsoft Word that manipulate dates store the dates as a 32-bit integer. This convention means that the date is represented by a 4-digit year, eliminating the risk of date errors. For example, dates saved with versions of documents retain their 4-digit year designations, regardless of display. Similarly, all 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 in the 21st century: years 2000û2029. To avoid this behavior, users should correct 2-digit years to 4-digit years. There is no validation of the dates in Table/Sort. For example, a date of 2/30/2000 would be sorted before 3/1/2000. Table/Sort interprets the range of years 1900û2035.

.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 have no affect on dates within a document. All date field information and file properties will be retained and correctly recognized.

2-digit shortcut handling:

Conversion of 2-digit shortcut dates (primarily in table sort and in 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, we have, in earlier documentation suggested the use of nested formula fields (expressions) 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 we cannot predict side effects with other products. Interoperability testing with other Microsoft Office products can be conducted safely.

The following areas should be looked at to verify dates are being properly used. The table below can be used to guide testing of Microsoft Word within your organization.

Area

SubArea

Testing Notes

Edit

Insert Date/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 sort in chronological order, ascending or descending. Two digits can be interpreted as years. Æ00 through Æ29 are interpreted to be in the 21st century. 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 four 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.

Fields

Date/Time Fields

Formula Fields

Summary Information Fields

Text Form Fields

Field Picture Switches

Many fields exist that manipulate date and time information. CreateDate, Date, DocProperty whose properties include CreateTime, LastPrinted, LastSavedTime, and Total Editing Time, EditTime, Info whose types include CreateDate, EditTime, PrintDate, and SaveDate, PrintDate, SaveDate, and Time.

Quote fields and Text Form fields are text fields that can be formatted as dates using field picture switches.

Formula fields are designed to calculate text or numbers.

Macros

VBA

WordBasic

The 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

The 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

SendMail

Doc Routing

Mail messages can be sent from within Word.

Misc.

Boot / Exit

OLE

DDE

Environment

 

Print

Document Property

The last date that the document was printed is saved with the document.

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.

The current date is displayed on the word status bar on NT 3.51.

Wizards

Calendar Wizard

Letter 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, formatted as a date.

 

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Legend of Symbols:
* The product is compliant with recommended customer action. This indicates a prerequisite action is recommended which may include loading a software update or reading a document.
# The product is compliant with acceptable deviations from Microsoft's standard of compliance. An acceptable deviation does not affect the core functionality, data integrity, stability, or reliability of the product.
+ The product is compliant with pending Year 2000 software updates. Future maintenance actions will be recommended shortly. See Product Guide for further details.
Note: Compliance ratings given for each product assume that all recommended actions have been taken.

If after reviewing this information you have additional questions related to this product, click here.

 

YEAR 2000 READINESS DISCLOSURE

ALL COMMUNICATIONS OR CONVEYANCES OF INFORMATION TO YOU CONCERNING MICROSOFT AND THE YEAR 2000, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO THIS DOCUMENT OR ANY OTHER PAST, PRESENT OR FUTURE INFORMATION REGARDING YEAR 2000 TESTING, ASSESSMENTS, READINESS, TIME TABLES, OBJECTIVES, OR OTHER (COLLECTIVELY THE "MICROSOFT YEAR 2000 STATEMENT"), ARE PROVIDED AS A "YEAR 2000 READINESS DISCLOSURE" (AS DEFINED BY THE YEAR 2000 INFORMATION AND READINESS DISCLOSURE ACT) AND CAN BE FOUND AT MICROSOFT'S YEAR 2000 WEBSITE LOCATED AT http://www.microsoft.com/year2000/ (the "Y2K WEBSITE"). EACH MICROSOFT YEAR 2000 STATEMENT IS PROVIDED PURSUANT TO THE TERMS HEREOF, THE TERMS OF THE Y2K WEBSITE, AND THE YEAR 2000 INFORMATION AND READINESS DISCLOSURE ACT FOR THE SOLE PURPOSE OF ASSISTING THE PLANNING FOR THE TRANSITION TO THE YEAR 2000. EACH MICROSOFT YEAR 2000 STATEMENT CONTAINS INFORMATION CURRENTLY AVAILABLE AND IS UPDATED REGULARLY AND SUBJECT TO CHANGE. MICROSOFT THEREFORE RECOMMENDS THAT YOU CHECK THE Y2K WEBSITE REGULARLY FOR ANY CHANGES TO ANY MICROSOFT YEAR 2000 STATEMENT. EACH MICROSOFT YEAR 2000 STATEMENT IS PROVIDED "AS IS" WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND. CONSEQUENTLY, MICROSOFT DISCLAIMS ALL WARRANTIES, EITHER EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING THE WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY AND FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. MOREOVER, MICROSOFT DOES NOT WARRANT OR MAKE ANY REPRESENTATIONS REGARDING THE USE OR THE RESULTS OF THE USE OF ANY MICROSOFT YEAR 2000 STATEMENT IN TERMS OF ITS CORRECTNESS, ACCURACY, RELIABILITY, OR OTHERWISE. NO ORAL OR WRITTEN INFORMATION OR ADVICE GIVEN BY MICROSOFT OR ITS AUTHORIZED REPRESENTATIVES SHALL CREATE A WARRANTY OR IN ANY WAY DECREASE THE SCOPE OF THIS WARRANTY DISCLAIMER. IN NO EVENT SHALL MICROSOFT OR ITS SUPPLIERS BE LIABLE FOR ANY DAMAGES WHATSOEVER REGARDING ANY MICROSOFT YEAR 2000 STATEMENT INCLUDING DIRECT, INDIRECT, INCIDENTAL, CONSEQUENTIAL, LOSS OF BUSINESS PROFITS, PUNITIVE OR SPECIAL DAMAGES, EVEN IF MICROSOFT OR ITS SUPPLIERS HAVE BEEN ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGES. SOME STATES DO NOT ALLOW THE EXCLUSION OR LIMITATION OF LIABILITY FOR CONSEQUENTIAL OR INCIDENTAL DAMAGES, SO THE FOREGOING LIMITATION MAY NOT APPLY TO YOU. THE INFORMATION CONTAINED IN EACH MICROSOFT YEAR 2000 STATEMENT IS FOUND AT THE Y2K WEBSITE AND IS INTENDED TO BE READ IN CONJUNCTION WITH OTHER INFORMATION LOCATED AT THE Y2K WEBSITE, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO MICROSOFT'S YEAR 2000 COMPLIANCE STATEMENT, THE DESCRIPTION OF THE CATEGORIES OF COMPLIANCE INTO WHICH MICROSOFT HAS CLASSIFIED ITS PRODUCTS IN ITS YEAR 2000 PRODUCT GUIDE, AND THE MICROSOFT YEAR 2000 TEST CRITERIA.

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.


 

Monday, October 4, 1999
1999 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved. Terms of use.

This site is being designated as a Year 2000 Readiness Disclosure and the information contained herein is provided pursuant to the terms hereof and the Year 2000 Information and Readiness Disclosure Act.