XL98: Year 2000 Wizards for Microsoft Excel 98

Microsoft has developed three date migration add-in tools that you can use with Microsoft Excel 98 Macintosh Edition. These can help you prepare dates in Excel workbooks for transitioning from earlier versions of Excel, or for auditing workbooks for the year 2000.

The Date Fix Wizard allows you to change the date format of two-digit-year dates quickly and easily or to modify serial number dates so that they fall within a specified century.

The Date Migration Wizard handles specific kinds of dates that are in workbooks created in earlier versions of Excel. These dates use years that are two-digit numbers between 20 and 29.

The Date Watch Wizard monitors your work for year-ambiguous dates and formats.

NOTES

• These wizards are designed for Microsoft Excel 98 Macintosh Edition only. If you have Microsoft Excel 97 or Microsoft Excel 2000, please click the article number below to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:
  176943  (http://support.microsoft.com/kb/176943/EN-US/ ) XL: Year 2000 Wizards for Microsoft Excel 97 and 2000 Available for Download
• This article points to the latest versions of these wizards, which replace any earlier versions. If you have previously downloaded these wizards, you may want to make sure you have the latest version.

When you use a two-digit year (20, 25, and so on) in Microsoft Excel, different versions of Microsoft Excel may interpret the year differently. For more information, please see the following article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

THE DATE FIX WIZARD ADD-IN

The Date Fix Wizard add-in for Microsoft Excel 98 allows you to manage dates more effectively by giving you the means to do the following:

• Change all date formats that display years as two-digit years to formats that display years as four-digit years. Note that this change lessens the ambiguity that is associated with two-digit years because you can easily see the century in which the years fall.
• Modify serial number dates so that they fall within a specific century.
• Create a report of previously saved workbooks that contain dates.

Downloading the Date Fix Wizard

The following file is available for download from the Microsoft Download Center:
For additional information about how to download Microsoft Support files, click the following article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base: Microsoft scanned this file for viruses. Microsoft used the most current virus-detection software that was available on the date that the file was posted. The file is stored on security-enhanced servers that help to prevent any unauthorized changes to the file.

Installing and Using the Date Fix Wizard

After you download Datefix.hqx from the Microsoft Download Center and extract the files contained in the download to extract the Date Fix Wizard, copy the Date Fix Wizard and the Date Fix Readme files to the Office:Excel Add-ins subfolder of the Microsoft Office folder. Then, load the wizard before you run it.

Additional instructions for installing and using the Date Fix Wizard are included in the Date Fix Readme file that is included with the wizard.

THE DATE MIGRATION WIZARD ADD-IN

The Date Migration Wizard add-in for Microsoft Excel 98 helps you ensure that dates with two-digit years are handled correctly when you open a workbook that was created in an earlier version of Microsoft Excel. More specifically, the Date Migration Wizard searches workbooks for functions that contain two-digit years that fall within the range 20 through 29 in text dates. (Excel 98 treats 2-digit years in this date range differently from earlier versions of Excel).

Downloading the Date Migration Wizard

The following file is available for download from the Microsoft Download Center:
For additional information about how to download Microsoft Support files, click the following article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base: Microsoft scanned this file for viruses. Microsoft used the most current virus-detection software that was available on the date that the file was posted. The file is stored on security-enhanced servers that help to prevent any unauthorized changes to the file.

Installing and Using the Date Migration Wizard

After you download Datescan.hqx from the Microsoft Download Center and extract the files contained in the download to extract the Date Migration Wizard, copy the Date Migration Wizard and the Date Migration Readme files to the Office:Excel Add-ins subfolder of the Microsoft Office 98 folder. Then, load the wizard before you run it.

Additional instructions for installing and using the Date Migration Wizard are included in the Date Migration Readme file that is included with the wizard.

THE DATE WATCH WIZARD ADD-IN

The Date Watch Wizard is an add-in program for Microsoft Excel 98 that runs in the background while you work and does the following:

• Suggests alternatives when you enter text dates that are year-ambiguous.
• Suggests alternatives when you type certain worksheet functions and the text dates in the functions are year-ambiguous.
• Changes number formats to four-year date formats when you type two-digit dates.
• Displays an alert when you open text files that contain two-digit years.

Downloading the Date Watch Wizard

The following file is available for download from the Microsoft Download Center:
For additional information about how to download Microsoft Support files, click the following article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base: Microsoft scanned this file for viruses. Microsoft used the most current virus-detection software that was available on the date that the file was posted. The file is stored on security-enhanced servers that help to prevent any unauthorized changes to the file.

Installing and Using the Date Watch Wizard

After you download Datewtch.hqx from the Microsoft Download Center and extract the files contained in the download to extract the Date Migration Wizard, copy the Date Watch and the Date Watch Readme files to the Office:Excel Add-ins subfolder of the Microsoft Office 98 folder. Then, load the wizard before you run it.

Additional instructions for installing and using the Date Watch Wizard are included in the Date Watch Readme file that is included with the wizard. NOTE: While the Date Fix Wizard, Date Migration Wizard, and Date Watch Wizard are helpful for year 2000 auditing, running these tools does not guarantee year 2000 compliance.

The add-ins discussed in this article are provided "as is," and Microsoft does not guarantee that they can be used in all situations. Although Microsoft support professionals can help with the installation and existing functionality of these add-ins, they will not modify the add-ins to provide new functionality.