MICROSOFT EXCEL 97 DATE FIX WIZARD

April 1998
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(c) Microsoft Corporation, 1998

Excel 97 allows you to enter dates using two digits for the year.
When you enter a year using two digits, Excel 97 always assumes
the century based on the digits you type: if you enter 00-29,
Excel 97 assumes the years 2000 through 2029; if you enter 30-99,
Excel 97 assumes the years 1930 through 1999. For example, when
you enter the date 1/1/25, the date is displayed as 1/1/25 and
stored as January 1, 2025. However, because the date only shows
two digits for the year, it might be interpreted by users as
January 1, 1925. You can use the Date Fix Wizard to quickly and
easily change the date format or modify the century that dates
fall within.

This wizard has three functions:

1. To change all date formats that appear as 2-digit years to 4-
   digit years.

2. To modify serial number dates so that they fall within a
   specific century.

3. To create a report of saved workbooks that contain dates.

NOTE: While you can enter a text date in formulas and functions--
that is, a date that has been entered within quotation marks (" ")-
-the Date Fix Wizard will not change these dates.

For more information about how Excel works with dates, see the
Excel Help topics:

     How Microsoft Excel performs date and time calculations

     Tips on entering dates and times

For more information about converting text-formatted dates to
numeric-formatted dates, see the Excel Help topic:

     Troubleshoot formatting numbers, dates, and times

and then click:

     Numbers aren't displayed or calculated as numeric values.

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IMPORTANT NOTE
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The best person to run the wizard and determine if dates within
the workbooks are correct is the author of the worksheets or
workbooks.

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INSTRUCTIONS
------------

After you download Datefix.exe from the Microsoft Software
Library and double-click it to extract Datefix.xla, the Date Fix
Wizard, you must copy the wizard to the proper folder and then
load the wizard before you can run it.

To load the wizard
------------------

1. Copy Datefix.xla to the \Office\Library subfolder of your
   Microsoft Office folder (by default, C:\Program Files\Microsoft
   Office).

2. Start Excel.

3. On the Tools menu, click Add-Ins.

4. Select the Date Fix Wizard check box.

To run the wizard
-----------------

NOTE: For performance reasons, do not switch to another program
while the Date Fix Wizard is running. You must leave Excel running
in the foreground until the wizard is finished.

1. On the Tools menu, point to Date Migration, and then click Date
   Fix Wizard.

2. In step 2 of the wizard, do one of the following:

   * Click "Modify date values in a selected workbook" to modify
     the century the dates fall within.

   * Click "Modify date formats in a selected workbook" to change
     dates that are formatted to display as 2-digit years to 4-
     digit years.

   * Click "Scan for dates in a selected folder" to create a report
     of all workbooks in a folder that contain dates, including the
     range of dates within each workbook.

3. In step 3 of the wizard, do one of the following:

   * If you selected "Modify date values in a selected workbook" or
     "Modify date formats in a selected workbook," select the
     workbook you want to process, and then select either "Process
     entire workbook" or "Process only the selected range" to
     process a range of cells.

   * If you selected "Scan dates in a selected folder," select the
     folder you want to scan. To include any subfolders, select the
     "Include subfolders" check box.

4. In step 4 of the wizard, do one of the following:

   * If you selected "Scan for dates in a selected folder," click
     Finish to create a report. The length of time it takes to
     create a detailed report varies depending on the size of the
     folder.

   * If you selected "Modify date formats in a selected workbook,"
     click Finish to convert the date formats to 4-digit years.
     When finished, the Date Fix Wizard creates a report that lists
     all changed cells and the changes to the formats in the cells.

   * If you selected "Modify date values in a selected workbook,"
     do one of the following:

     - Click "Make all dates fall in the 20th century" to convert
       any dates in the 21st century to the 20th century.

     - Click "Make all dates fall in the 21st century" to convert
       any dates in the 20th century to the 21st century.

     - Click "Specify a cutoff year," and then enter a 2-digit
       value for the year. If the last two digits of the year are
       equal to or greater than the cutoff year value, the year
       will fall in the 20th century. If the last two digits of the
       year are less then the cutoff value, the date will fall in
       the 21st century.

    When finished, the Date Fix Wizard creates a report that lists
    all changed cells and the changes to the date values in the
    cells.