XCLN: Incorrect Holidays Listed in Microsoft Outlook Calendar (230161)


The information in this article applies to:

  • Microsoft Outlook 97 8.03
  • Microsoft Outlook 97 8.04
  • Microsoft Outlook 98
  • Microsoft Outlook 2000
  • Microsoft Exchange Server 5.5
This article was previously published under Q230161

SYMPTOMS

Microsoft has confirmed that the dates of the following holidays in Microsoft Outlook 97 and Microsoft Outlook 98 are incorrect:
  • United States: Memorial Day is incorrectly listed as one week prior to the actual date of Memorial Day.
  • United States: Thanksgiving Day is incorrectly listed as one week or one day prior to the actual date of Thanksgiving Day.
  • United States: Columbus Day is incorrectly listed as October 12 every year, as opposed to the actual date of Columbus Day which is the second Monday in October.
  • United Kingdom: Spring Bank Holiday, 1999, is incorrectly listed as May 24, 1999, instead of May 31, 1999.
  • United Kingdom: Late Summer Holiday, 1999, is incorrectly listed as August 23, 1999, instead of August 30, 1999.

CAUSE

This behavior occurs because the incorrect dates for these holidays are included in the Outlook.txt file.

RESOLUTION

To correct this problem, use the appropriate method.

How to Correct the Dates Before You Add Holidays to Your Calendar

If you have not already added the holidays to the Outlook Calendar, use a text editor such as Notepad to correct the dates in the Outlook.txt file, and then import the holidays for your country/region. To do this, use the following steps:
  1. Click Start, point to Find, and then click Files and Folders.
  2. In the Named box, type Outlook.txt.
  3. In the Look in box, click the hard disk on which Outlook is installed, and then click Find Now.
  4. In the list of found files, double-click the Outlook.txt file.

    If you receive a message that states that the file is too large for Notepad, click Yes to open the file in WordPad.
  5. Scroll down to the appropriate section for your country/region, and then change the incorrect holiday dates to the correct dates.

    For example:

    [United Kingdom]

    Change: Spring Bank Holiday, 1999/05/24

    to: Spring Bank Holiday, 1999/05/31.

  6. On the File menu, click Save.
  7. On the File menu, click Exit.

How to Import the Corrected Holiday List

  1. Start Outlook.
  2. On the Tools menu, click Options.
  3. On the Preferences tab, click Calendar Options.
  4. Under Calendar Options, click Add Holidays, and then click to select the check box for your country/region.
  5. Click OK on each of the three dialog boxes to close them.

How to Correct the Dates After You Add Holidays to Your Calendar

If you already added the holidays to the Outlook Calendar, follow these steps to adjust the incorrect dates:
  1. Open the Outlook Calendar that contains the incorrect holiday dates.
  2. Navigate to a holiday with an incorrect date.
  3. Double-click the all-day appointment for the holiday to open it.
  4. Change the date to the correct date in the Start time box and in the End time box.
  5. On the toolbar, click the Save and Close button.
  6. Repeat steps 2 through 5 to change any other incorrect dates in your Outlook Calendar.

STATUS

Microsoft has confirmed that this is a problem in the Microsoft products that are listed at the beginning of this article.

MORE INFORMATION

For more information about incorrect holidays in Outlook, please see the following articles in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

197002 OL98: Memorial Day, 1999 Holiday Date Incorrect

189509 OL97: United Kingdom Late Summer Holiday Dates Incorrect

189508 OL98: United Kingdom Late Summer Holiday Dates Incorrect

161587 OL97: How to Customize Outlook Calendar Holidays

Modification Type:MinorLast Reviewed:4/28/2005
Keywords:kbbug kbpending KB230161
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