ACC2: Years Between 00 and 29 Are Interpreted as 1900 to 1929

ID: Q75455

The information in this article applies to:
Novice: Requires knowledge of the user interface on single-user computers.


SYMPTOMS

When you enter dates with 2-digit years in Microsoft Access version 2.0, the year is always placed between 1900 and 1999.


CAUSE

Microsoft Access 2.0 assumes that all 2-digit years are between 1900 and 1999.


RESOLUTION

You can resolve this problem in two different ways:


STATUS

Microsoft has confirmed this to be a problem in Microsoft Access 2.0. This problem is resolved by the Microsoft Access 2.0 Date Patch.

To obtain the patch, please see the following article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

Q231408 ACC2: Access 2.0 Two-Digit Date Patch Available on MSL


MORE INFORMATION

Microsoft Access 2.0 assumes that all two-digit dates are between 1900 and 1999. This differs from the behavior in Access 7.0 and 97, where two-digit years between 00 and 29 are assumed to be between 2000 and 2029 and years between 30 and 99 are assumed to be between 1930 and 1999. The table below shows how dates are interpreted in Access 2.0 vs. 7.0/97.

NOTE: The way Access 7.0 and 97 interpret two-digit dates is actually dependent on the version of the automation library installed on your computer. To learn how to determine which version of the automation library you have installed and how that affects date interpretation in Access, see the following white paper:

http://www.microsoft.com/technet/year2k/white/auto.htm.
The following examples assume that the automation libraries are version 2.20.00.4054 or newer.
2-digit year Access 2.0 Access 7.0/97
00 1900 2000
29 1929 2029
30 1930 1930
99 1999 1999
After you install the updated file, Access 2.0 will interpret two-digit dates between 00 and 29 as occurring between 2000 and 2029 and two-digit dates between 30 and 99 as occurring between 1930 and 1999.

Installing the updated files discussed in the "Status" section of this article will not alter the dates that are already stored in your database. Microsoft Access actually stores dates as double-precision, floating-point numbers (up to 15 decimal places). The integer portion of the double-precision number represents the date; the decimal portion represents the time. Dates entered prior to applying the updated files were stored as occurring in the 1900s and will remain that way after the update.

For additional information about how Access stores date/time values, please see the "More Information" section of following article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:
Q130514 ACC: Storing, Calculating, and Comparing Date/Time Data


REFERENCES

For more information about how Microsoft products are affected by year 2000 (Y2K) issues, please see the following Microsoft World Wide Web site:

http://www.microsoft.com/y2k/

Additional query words: pra Access Y2K year date 


Keywords          : kbdta 
Version           : WINDOWS:2.0
Platform          : WINDOWS 
Issue type        : kbbug

Last Reviewed: May 10, 1999