WD6X: Find File Fails with Dates Beyond Year 2000

• Microsoft Word for Windows, versions 6.0, 6.0a, 6.0c

SYMPTOMS

When you attempt to perform a search for a document in Microsoft Word 6.x for Windows using the Find File feature, the search fails if you search for dates later than December 31, 2000.

CAUSE

Word 6.x only uses the last two digits of the year when using the Find File feature; therefore, when you enter a year of 2006, Word searches for the year 1906 rather than 2006.

NOTE: This is only a limitation of the Find File feature. Internally, Word 6.x uses a four-digit representation of the year. Note also that the file searching feature of Microsoft Word for Windows 95, version 7.x and Word 97 use all four digits of the year.

WORKAROUND

To work around this problem, use the file search feature that is part of the Windows 95 operating system.

1. Click the Start button, point to Find, and click Files Or Folders.

2. Click the Date Modified tab.

3. Enter a search date in a format similar to 1/1/2006.

MORE INFORMATION

In Word 6.x, the file date is represented in the format mm/dd/yy (dd/mm/yy for international versions.) Therefore, a date of January 1, 2006, is represented the same way as January 1, 1906. That is, both dates are represented in the form "1/1/06."

The Find File feature uses only the last two digits of the Saved Date or the Creation Date when performing a search. The valid date range for Find File is 01/01/1901 (01/01/01) to 12/31/2000 (12/31/00).

The Summary Information that is displayed when you click the File menu, click Summary Info, and click Statistics, displays only a two digit representation of the year.

Date related fields, such as CreateDate, Date, PrintDate, SaveDate, and Time, correctly display a four digit year if you choose a four digit date format option such as "MMMM d, yyyy" (four y characters signify a four-digit year, while two y characters signify a two-digit year).

In WordBasic, date-related commands have the following range of recognized dates.

   Command        Limitation
   -----------------------------------------------------------------------

   Date$()        Valid for 12/30/1899 to 12/31/4095. This command will
                  return a date with a two-digit year if it is formatted
                  to do so. Otherwise it will return a four-digit year.

   DateSerial()   Valid for 12/30/1899 to 12/31/4095. To specify dates
                  after the year 1999, you must use all four digits of the
                  year.

   DateValue()    Valid for 12/30/1899 to 12/31/4095. To specify dates
                  after the year 1999, you must use all four digits of the
                  year.

   Day()          Valid for 12/30/1899 to 12/31/4095.

   Days360        Valid for 12/30/1899 to 12/31/4095.

REFERENCES

For more information about the year 2000, please see the following articles in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

   ARTICLE-ID: Q85557
   TITLE     : File Manager Shows Garbled Date for Year 2000 or Later

   ARTICLE-ID: Q149582
   TITLE     : Windows NT Will Correctly Handle the Year 2000