WordPerfect® 5.1 and 5.1+ for DOS
 

Year 2000 Issues
Date-Related Assumptions
Document Summary

Addressing potential year 2000 issues is a high priority at Corel. We have established a comprehensive Product Evaluation Program to ensure that year 2000 issues are examined thoroughly, using “real world” scenarios to determine if our products will continue to operate as designed.

Our evaluation indicates that WordPerfect® 5.1 for DOS is “compliant with minor issues”.
These issues, however, should not affect the overall performance of the product.

We identified two issues with respect to WordPerfect® 5.1 for DOS and the year 2000 that you should be aware of. The first relates to date assumptions. Additionally, creation and revision dates in the Document Summary feature can only be displayed with two-digit values for the year. Follow the links above for a detailed explanation of these issues.

Thank you for your interest in Corel’s year 2000 initiatives.
 

Date-Related Assumptions

Dates displayed in WordPerfect® 5.1 for DOS are dependent on the operating system. The MS-DOS operating system does not accept the entry of two-digit year values from 00–79, but it does accept two-digit year values that fall between 1980 and 1999. To specify a year in the twenty-first century, you must enter a four-digit year value (2000–2099) into the operating system.

To change the operating system date, at the DOS prompt (C:\>), type: date and press ENTER. Enter a date in the format specified (MM-DD-YYYY). To ensure the dates you enter are unambiguous, we recommend always using four digits when you enter the year. You will notice, however, that the year displays with two digits. Our testing has determined that the dates are stored unambiguously as four-digit years with the WordPerfect® 5.1+ for DOS features that assign a date stamp (for example, the Revision Date feature).


Document Summary Feature

The Document Summary Feature enables you to save information about a document that does not display or print with the document. You can use this information later to identify your document.

When you use the Document Summary Feature, save your changes in the following manner:

a. hold down the Shift key, and press the function key F8.
b. select: 3 Document option.
c. select: 5 Summary option, from the Document menu.
d. select: 1 to edit the Creation and/or Revision Date.

Creation Date and Revision Date Display Assumptions

WordPerfect® 5.1+ for DOS can only display two-digit entries in the Document Summary, Creation Date and Revision Date features. When you enter a two-digit value for one year, it makes the following assumptions:

00–79 = 2000–2079
80–99 = 1980–1999

Our evaluation has also identified two other date-related topics that may be of interest to advanced users.
 

WordPerfect® 5.1+ for DOS
 

Advanced User Topics

Search by Creation Date

You can use the Creation Date and/or the Revision Date to identify documents when searching in the File Manager (F5, ENTER, 9, 5, 5). Your search must be between the dates of 1980-2099*.

*MS-DOS does not recognize dates before 1980, or after 2099.

You must set the Creation Date in the Document Summary (SHIFT-F8, 5, 3, 1) to perform a successful search. Otherwise, the Creation Date will always match the operating system clock, and your search will not be successful.

To search by Creation Date,
a. press F5. The bottom of the screen displays: Dir C:\WP51\*.*
    (C: represents the drive that contains the WordPerfect® 5.1+ program.)
b. press ENTER to display the File Manager.
c. select: 9 Find; from the bottom of the File Manager screen.
d. select: 5 Conditions; from the Find menu.
e. select: 5 Creation Date – From
                                           To
    from the Find: Conditions menu.
f. enter the dates you want to search between (MM/DD/YYYY) in the From and To fields.

Note: To ensure the dates you enter are unambiguous, always use four digits when you enter the year. You will notice, however, that the year displays in two digits.

g. press ENTER.

Recommendation:
We recommend using the Document Summary to search by Revision Date, rather than Creation Date, in order to ensure a more accurate search.

To search by Revision Date:
a. press F5. The bottom of the screen displays: Dir C:\WP51\*.*
    (C: represents the drive that contains the WordPerfect® 5.1+ for DOS program.)
b. press ENTER to display the File Manager.
c. select: 9 Find; from the bottom of the File Manager screen.
d. select: 5 Conditions; from the Find menu.
e. select: 3 Revision Date - From
                                          To
    from the Find: Conditions menu.
f. enter the dates you want to search between (MM/DD/YYYY) in the From and To fields.
Note: Make sure you use four digits when you enter the year.
g. press ENTER.

WordPerfect® 5.1+ for DOS automatically returns you to the File Manager list, and displays all the files with a Revision Date that falls between your search dates.

Date Display

The File Manager screen displays the date of your operating system in the upper left-hand corner of the screen. For dates that occur after the year 2000, the year displays in the following manner:

For example: