Microsoft KB Archive/32541

Works: Acceptable Date Formats for Works Spreadsheets

PSS ID Number: Q32541 Article last modified on 10-16-1998

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MS-DOS

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= SUMMARY =

You can enter a date in any format in a Works database if you don’t plan to use formulas with the dates or if you are not planning to sort the dates. However, if you plan to use the dates in formulas or to perform a sort based on the dates (earliest ones first), you must enter the dates in a format that Works recognizes.

To use this format, enter the date in one of the predefined date formats such as “mm/dd/yy.” For example, enter the date October 30, 1989, by typing “10/30/89” (without the quotation marks) in the date field of your database and then press ENTER.

If you enter the date in a format that is not predefined, such as “mm-dd-yy” (using hyphens instead of forward slashes), Works does not recognize this as a date because it is not a predefined format.

= MORE INFORMATION =

The following is a list of the Works predefined date formats. If you enter a date in any of these formats, Works can perform calculations upon it and sort chronologically in the database using this field.

To enter the following: Type the date as follows:

Month, day, year - long form Oct 30, 1989 Month, year - long form Oct, 1989 Month, day - long form Oct 30 Month - long form Oct Month, day, year - short form 10/30/1989 Month, year - short form 10/1989 Month - short form 10

Please note that the year can be entered in abbreviated form (for example, 10/30/89) in all of these examples and the program still works correctly.

Works stores a date as a Serial Date. A Serial Date is an integer value that is assigned to a date. Works assigns the value 1 to January 1, 1900. January 2, 1900, is assigned the number 2, and so on. Many spreadsheet programs use this algorithm so they can perform arithmetic with dates. This algorithm allows you to do things such as figuring out how many days there are between two dates.

Reference(s):

“Microsoft Works Reference” manual, version 2.0, pages 113-114

KBCategory: kbother KBSubcategory: dworkskb

Additional reference words: 1.00 2.00 3.00 date

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========================================================= Version : 1.00 1.05 2.00 3.00 Platform : MS-DOS ============================================================================= Copyright Microsoft Corporation 1998.