Query97: MSQuery Uses 1900 Date When Two Digits Used for Year

ID: Q187698

The information in this article applies to:

Microsoft Excel 97 for Windows
Microsoft Query 97 for Windows

SYMPTOMS

When you perform a query in Microsoft Query 97 for Windows, and you use two digits for a year in the criteria, Microsoft Query may return records that meet criteria other than the criteria you specify.

CAUSE

When you use two digits for a year in the criteria pane, Microsoft Query always assumes by design that the year is between 1900 and 1999. This behavior occurs for dates that you enter in the value field of the Criteria pane and for dates that you use in parameter queries.

RESOLUTION

To correct this problem, obtain Microsoft Office 97 Service Release 2 (SR-2).

For additional information about SR-2, please see the following article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

   ARTICLE-ID: Q151261
   TITLE     : OFF97: How to Obtain and Install MS Office 97 SR-2

MORE INFORMATION

If two records have the following two values in a date field

   1/1/1919
   1/1/2019

and you use #1/1/19# in the criteria pane of Microsoft Query, only the record containing the value 1/1/1919 is returned. If you change the criteria to #1/1/2019#, the record containing the value 1/1/2019 is returned.

This behavior is different from the behavior in Microsoft Excel 97 for Windows. In Excel 97, if you use two digits for any years between 0 and 29 (inclusive), the date is assumed to be 2000 to 2029. If you use two digits for years between 30 and 99 (inclusive), the date is assumed to be 1930 to 1999.

If you insert or update records using the Data pane in Microsoft Query, you should also use four-digit years for dates you enter. Otherwise, Query will assume any two-digit years are between 1900 and 1999.

REFERENCES

For more information about adding criteria, click the Office Assistant in Microsoft Query, type "adding criteria," click Search, and then click to view "Specify what records to retrieve by using criteria."

NOTE: If the Assistant is hidden, click the Office Assistant button on the Standard toolbar. If Microsoft Help is not installed on your computer, please see the following article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

   ARTICLE-ID: Q120802
   TITLE     : Office: How to Add/Remove a Single Office
               Program or Component

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/technet/topics/year2k/default.htm

Additional query words: XL97 y2k year2000 2000

Keywords          : kbdta kb2000 xlquery 
Version           : WINDOWS:97
Platform          : WINDOWS

Last Reviewed: November 6, 1998