Summary
On May 1, 2019, a new Japanese era and its associated calendar began. Most Office products that support the Japanese calendar and are within their support life cycle have been updated to reflect the new era.
If you're using the Japanese calendar in an Office product for Windows and aren't seeing the new era, Reiwa, try one of the following options:
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If you update your computer yourself, apply the latest Office and Windows updates.
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If you’re in a managed environment (someone else applies updates for you), contact the IT administrator to apply updates.
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Use Office 365 that is updated to reflect the new era.
The Office team will continue to release updates for client and mobile versions (including iOS and Android) of Office products on the regular monthly release schedule. Future updates will contain fixes and features such as fonts and the IME that are heavily dependent on the recent announcement of the new era name. Note that in addition to the Office updates, customers have to verify that the operating system (Windows, iOS, MacOS, or Android) is updated and supports the new era.
To ensure customers have the best possible experience when the era begins, some Office products will display the new era prior to its start on May 1.
To learn more about the Microsoft effort to prepare for the new Japanese era, see Updates for May 2019 Japanese Era Change.
As always, we welcome any feedback that you may have about the updates. For more information, see How do I give feedback on Microsoft Office?
Prerequisites for Office to handle the new Japanese era
Office for Windows
For Office on Windows to correctly handle the new Japanese era, both Windows and .NET Framework must be updated to versions that support the new era. For more information about how to make these updates, refer to the Windows updates and .NET Framework updates sections. To install the latest Office updates, see Install Office Updates.
Office for Mac, Office for Android, and Office for iOS
For other devices (Mac, Android or iOS), updates for the specific platform are available from the store for that platform and will be applied according to the store's update policy. Make sure to install updates for both the operating system and Office applications.
Microsoft 365 Apps for enterprise and Office 2019
In order to get the latest Japanese era updates, install the most recent version that's listed in the linked release notes:
Office 2016, 2013, 2010 and server products
The following table provides a list of Microsoft Knowledge Base articles by Office version for Japanese era updates as of this posting. We will offer additional updates for Office as they become available, and we will update this article accordingly.
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Knowledge Base article (KB) |
Applicable Office program version |
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Office Online Server |
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SharePoint Enterprise Server 2019 |
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Office 2016 Notes
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Access 2016 |
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Excel 2016 Note KB4475513 is the latest security update for Excel 2016. It also provides Japanese era support, since all updates are cumulative. |
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Outlook 2016 Note KB4475517 is the latest security update for Outlook 2016. It also provides Japanese era support, since all updates are cumulative. |
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Project 2016 |
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Visio 2016 |
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Word 2016 Note KB4464596 is the latest security update for Word 2016. It also provides Japanese era support, since all updates are cumulative. |
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SharePoint Enterprise Server 2016 |
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Office 2013 Notes |
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Access 2013 |
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Excel 2013 Note KB4464565 is the latest security update for Excel 2013. It also provides Japanese era support, since all updates are cumulative. |
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Outlook 2013 Note KB4464592 is the latest security update for Outlook 2013. It also provides Japanese era support, since all updates are cumulative. |
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Project 2013 |
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Visio 2013 |
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Word 2013 Note KB4464590 is the latest security update for Word 2013. It also provides Japanese era support, since all updates are cumulative. |
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Office Web Apps Server 2013 |
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SharePoint Enterprise Server 2013 |
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SharePoint Foundation 2013 |
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Office 2010 Note The security KB4462224 supersedes KB4462177. It also provides Japanese era support, since all updates are cumulative. |
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Access 2010 |
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Excel 2010 Note KB4464572 is the latest security update for Excel 2010. It also provides Japanese era support, since all updates are cumulative. |
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Outlook 2010 Note KB4475509 is the latest security update for Outlook 2010. It also provides Japanese era support, since all updates are cumulative. |
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Project 2010 |
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Visio 2010 |
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Word 2010 |
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SharePoint Foundation 2010 Note KB4475510 is the latest security update for SharePoint Foundation 2010. It also provides Japanese era support, since all updates are cumulative. |
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SharePoint Server 2010 |
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SharePoint Server 2010 Office Web Apps |
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SharePoint Server 2010 Excel Web App |
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The system dictionary that includes the new era name is also available in the Japanese version of Microsoft Office Input Method Editor (IME) 2010. You can download it from the following download center:
Microsoft Office IME 2010 latest word dictionary update (April 2019 version)
After you install this system dictionary, the new era name is displayed in the candidate list of Office IME 2010 when you type the new era name "Reiwa".
How to test the new Japanese era
For guidance about how to test the new Japanese era, see the "How to test the new Japanese era artifacts on Windows" section in "Summary of new Japanese Era updates - KB4469068."
Note Before you test the new Japanese era, update Office, the operating system, and .NET Framework. After you verify that these updates are installed, check whether the behavior in your Office documents and Office applications work as expected.
More information
Together with the support for the new Japanese era, many Office products support the Gannen format. For more details about Gannen, see the "New Japanese era supported features" section of Summary of new Japanese Era updates - KB4469068.
In Microsoft Excel, dates can be formatted to display Gannen by using custom formatting or the "Format" function. For examples of how to use Gannen in Excel, see Japan era changes and Gannen.
