Microsoft KB Archive/106556

= Microsoft Knowledge Base =

XL: Non-English Months Incorrectly Interpreted as Text
Last reviewed: March 27, 1997

Article ID: Q106556

4.00 4.00a 5.00 5.00c 7.00 7.00a | 4.00 5.00 5.00a

WINDOWS                         | MACINTOSH kbusage

The information in this article applies to:


 * Microsoft Excel for Windows, versions 4.0, 4.0a, 5.0, 5.0c
 * Microsoft Excel for the Macintosh, version, 4.0, 5.0, 5.0a
 * Microsoft Excel for Windows 95, versions 7.0, 7.0a

SUMMARY
In Microsoft Excel, the names of months are diacritical sensitive. For example, if you are using a German version of Microsoft Excel, if you enter "10 Marz 1994" (March 10, 1994), Microsoft Excel will not accept it as a date. Instead, this value will be interpreted as a text string because in the German language version, the "a" in "Marz" is a diaeresis a. Without the diaeresis, the month is interpreted as regular text.

This applies to all language versions of Microsoft Excel where diacritical characters such as acute accent, a circumflex, a diaeresis, a cedilla, and so on, are contained in the names of months.

This does not generally affect American and other English-language versions of Microsoft Excel, since month names in English do not contain diacritical characters.

MORE INFORMATION
The following months may not be interpreted as expected in the indicated language versions of Microsoft Excel:

DUTCH           FR. CANADIAN     GERMAN           ITALIAN januari   jan   Janvier    Jan   Januar     Jan   gennaio    gen februari  feb   Fevrier(1) Fev   Februar    Feb   febbraio   feb maart     maa   Mars       Mar   Marz(4)    Mar   marzo      mar april     apr   Avril      Avr   April      Apr   aprile     apr mei       mei   Mai        Mai   Mai        Mai   maggio     mag juni      jun   Juin       Jun   Juni       Jun   giugno     giu juli      jul   Juillet    Jul   Juli       Jul   luglio     lug augustus  aug   Aout(2)    Aou   August     Aug   agosto     ago september sep   Septembre  Sep   September  Sep   settembre  set oktober   okt   Octobre    Oct   Oktober    Okt   ottobre    ott november  nov   Novembre   Nov   November   Nov   novembre   nov december  dec   Decembre(3)Dec   Dezember   Dez   dicembre   dic

NORWEGIAN       PORTUGUESE       SPANISH          SWEDISH januar    jan   janeiro    jan   Enero      Ene   januari    jan februar   feb   fevereiro  fev   Febrero    Feb   februari   feb mars      mar   marco(5)   mar   Marzo      Mar   mars       mar april     apr   abril      abr   Abril      Abr   april      apr mai       mai   maio       mai   Mayo       May   maj        maj juni      jun   junho      jun   Junio      Jun   juni       jun juli      jul   julho      jul   Julio      Jul   juli       jul august    aug   agosto     ago   Agosto     Ago   augusti    aug september sep   setembro   set   Septiembre Sep   september  sep oktober   okt   outubro    out   Octubre    Oct   oktober    okt november  nov   novembro   nov   Noviembre  Nov   november   nov desember  des   dezembro   dez   Diciembre  Dic   december   dec Notes: (1) The first "e" in Fevrier contains an acute accent. (2) The "u" in Aout contains a circumflex. (3) The first "e" in Decembre contains an acute accent. (4) The "a" in Marz contains a diaeresis (umlaut). (5) The "c" in Marco contains a cedilla.