Microsoft Year 2000 Readiness Disclosure & Resource Center

 

Product Summary

Product: Word 2000 Version: 9.0 Category: Compliant Operating System: 32-Bit Win Language: Hindu Release Date: 25 Mar 1999 Operational Range: 01 Jan 1901 - 31 Dec 2035 Prerequisites: None Product Dependencies: Windows 95, Windows 98, or Windows NT 3.51 with Service Pack 5 or later, Windows NT 4.0 with Service Pack 3 or later, or Windows 2000 Clock Dependencies: System Clock Last Updated: 17 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 customers' Year 2000 efforts, Microsoft intends to maintain Word 2000 version 9.0 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. How the product handles dates: Storage. Date and time values are stored either as simple text strings or as a 32-bit integer. This means that the date is represented by a 4-digit year, which reduces the risk of date related issues. 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 Weekdays: 0(Sun)-6(Sat) Days of month: 1-31 Years: 1901-2411 Unless otherwise noted, features that manipulate dates store the dates as a 32-bit integer. This means that 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 those imported from another program or entered by using the Date and Time command on the Insert menu, are simple text. Word interprets simple text as a date value by using the format set on the Date tab in Regional Settings in the Windows Control Panel. If the date cannot be interpreted by using regional settings, Word will attempt to interpret the date by using other possible date orderings, assuming the user entered a valid date. Because this can lead to an ambiguous situation, the date format in Regional Settings should be set to match the order in which the user wants the date to be interpreted. Features that can interpret simple text as dates include fields, with Mail Merge fields being the most frequently used, and table sorting. Saving to an earlier version of Word, or upgrading, will have no effect on dates in a document. Date field information and file properties will be retained and recognized. Two-digit shortcut handling: Word uses a 100-year sliding window to determine the century when interpreting a 2-digit year. By default, this window is set to the years 1930-2029. This means that 2-digit-year dates 00 through 29 are interpreted as being in the years 2000-2029, and that 2-digit-year dates 30 through 99 are interpreted as being in the years 1930-1999. This sliding window can be changed in Windows 98 and Windows NT 5 by changing the setting on the Date tab in Regional Settings in Control Panel. For example, by changing the setting to 2019, the new sliding window would be 1920-2019. This interface controls the registry key: HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Control Panel\International\Calendars\TwoDigitYearMax\1 and has a default string value of 2029. Because this is a system-wide setting, changing it will affect all programs that call the application programming interface (API). Also, because this change has broad impact on 2-digit date handling, including that in Microsoft Visual Basic (VB) and Microsoft Visual Basic for Applications (VBA), before making the change, users should consider all instances of where 2-digit years may be handled in Office or in their operating system. In the Japanese language, Emperor dates are designated with digits 1-xxx. Dates are sorted through this range and are not affected by the year 2000. Common date usage issues: 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. Because most document content is stored as plain text, including data entered by using the Date and Time command on the Insert menu and text form fields, the century information could be improperly derived or assumed by the user solution. Use of Word date field types and predefined document and file properties for document-related date calculations may help ensure that the available information represents a true date. Because Word date fields do not support date arithmetic, the use of nested formula fields (expressions) has been suggested in earlier documentation to accomplish adding or subtracting days, months, or years to dates. However, simple arithmetic calculations are not calendar-aware, so this method is prone to Year-2000-type issues, 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 non-compliant products cannot be predicted. Interoperability testing with other Microsoft Office products can be conducted safely. The following areas can 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, by using a specific sorting language. Two-digit dates are interpreted by using the sliding date window described earlier in the section "Two-digit shortcut handling." Table Sort interprets the years 1901-2035. In the Japanese language, Table Sort does not interpret double-byte date strings as date values. They are interpreted as plain text. 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. In previous versions of Word, bookmarked date fields or date text could be linked to the custom properties via a date type. Because regional setting changes could change the interpretation of dates in a Word document, and because maintaining consistency with the initial authorÆs literal date is important, bookmarked date fields or date text can now only be linked to custom properties via a text type. 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 simple text or numbers, not dates. 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() Two-digit years passed to the WordBasic.DateSerial function are interpreted as being in the 1900s to retain compatibility with previous versions of Word that have documented this behavior. To specify a year in the 2000s, use a 4-digit year with the WordBasic.DateSerial function. To remove the potential for ambiguity, using 4-digit years is strongly recommended. The VBA DateSerial function interprets 2-digit years by using the sliding date window described earlier in the section "Two-digit shortcut handling." 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. 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 2000 uses a number of Microsoft Office 2000 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 2000, 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 2000 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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