Show All

Hide All

June 10, 1999

When your computers are running updated versions of the Microsoft Windows® 95/98, Windows NT® 4.0, or Windows 2000 operating system, you can take advantage of a customizable 4-digit cutoff date. This date setting is applied in all Microsoft Office 2000 applications.

The cutoff date specifies the 100-year range to be applied whenever a user enters a year date in a 2-digit format. For example, if a user enters the date 2/1/95, the operating system automatically interprets and stores the year as 1995.

The default cutoff range is 1930-2029, but you can set the range for any 100-year period between 1900 and 9999. The date range is automatically applied to new data entered in Microsoft Excel, Microsoft Access, Visual Basic® for Applications-based solutions, and other date-specific fields.

Note   Previously saved data always retains the original dates entered by the user.

To specify a cutoff range for 2-digit year dates

1. In Control Panel, double-click the Regional Settings icon (Windows 95/98 and Windows NT) or the Regional Options icon (Windows 2000), and then click the Date tab.
2. Under When a two-digit year is entered, interpret as a year between, set the upper limit for the century.

   When you change the upper-limit year, the lower-limit year automatically changes to match.

In addition to specifying a cutoff range, you can also set all year dates to be displayed in a 4-digit format. When you set this option, for example, a date entered in an Excel worksheet as 95 is displayed as 1995.

Note   Users can still override the default date format by applying custom date formats within Office 2000 applications.

To change the default date format to display 4-digit years

1. In Control Panel, double click the Regional Settings icon (Windows 95/98 and Windows NT) or the Regional Options icon (Windows 2000), and then click the Date tab.
2. In the Short date style box, click a format that uses 4 digits to represent the year (yyyy).

Tip   As an administrator, you can set a cutoff range and date format for all of the computers in your organization. To standardize these settings, create a Windows system policy file and distribute it throughout your organization.

Related links

For more information about Windows policy files, see the Resource Kit for your version of Windows. These kits are all available from Microsoft Press.