How can I turn off automatic date update on opening documents

Anonymous
2011-05-10T12:06:19+00:00

Original Title: Word 2010

How can I turn off automatic date update on opening documents.  I need to retain the dates letters were written.  Step by step if possible!

Microsoft 365 and Office | Word | For home | Windows

Locked Question. This question was migrated from the Microsoft Support Community. You can vote on whether it's helpful, but you can't add comments or replies or follow the question.

0 comments
Answer accepted by question author
Suzanne S Barnhill 279.2K Reputation points MVP Volunteer Moderator
2011-05-10T12:26:24+00:00

The instructions are the same for letters and for templates, but if you are basing your letters on a template that includes a DATE field, then make the change in the template and you'll never have to do it in a letter again.

The reason that the date updates is that it is a DATE field, which always provides the current system date. What you want is a different field, the CREATEDATE field, which is updated once, when you create the document, and then stays the same forever after. You can read more about these and other fields at http://wordfaqs.mvps.org/datefields.htm.

To change your DATE field to a CREATEDATE field, press Alt+F9 to display the field code. Then just type CREATE before DATE, press Alt+F9 to toggle back, and press F9 to update.

If you put a CREATEDATE field in a document template, the template itself will always display the date it was created, but when you create a new document based on the template, the document will display the date IT was created. The nice thing about this is that the date that the document was created is stored within it at creation, so you can change a DATE field to CREATEDATE at any time to recover that original date even if the DATE field has updated to the current date.

Was this answer helpful?

80+ people found this answer helpful.
0 comments
Answer accepted by question author
Charles Kenyon 170.9K Reputation points Volunteer Moderator
2012-08-13T19:28:21+00:00

How about this? Select date, right click, check "Preserve date". But that would be too simple, and there would be less need for de-obfuscators.

And how, exactly, does this help someone who has a document, created on a different day with a DATE field? Are you suggesting a change to Word rather than explaining to someone who has a problem how to fix it?

Preserve date might be less cryptic in this instance than "Unlink field," but it does not give you the original date. Assume a document written with a DATE field on October 23, 2009, saved as a new document on July 11, 2010, and today is August 13, 2012. What date is to be preserved? How do you tell the computer?

The best method, as I believe Suzanne mentioned is to have a template using the CreateDate field to start with. The next best solution is to manually change the field to a CreateDate field or unlink the field when the document is created so that it is plain text. Going backwards is always going to be a bit iffy, whether done manually or by some right-click menu choice.

Was this answer helpful?

10+ people found this answer helpful.
0 comments

78 additional answers

Sort by: Newest
Most helpful Newest Oldest
  1. Anonymous
    2016-05-19T14:27:07+00:00

    Dear Suzanne

    I had this questions for years but I didn't ask it. I faced this question by chance and your name drew my attention.

    I am using Word 2013. I tried Alt F9 but didn't get field code. I have to add that F9 is red colored which means I have to hit Fn key as well. Neither worked.

    PS) During 2004 I was in Japan working as a researcher and I kept asking many Word-related questions from you in order to finish the paper.

    I have very good memories from you on that time and you helped me a lot. In one occasion, I was running out of time and I kept asking you over and over and you replied kindly. I didn't get answer in a moment and I got nervous and complained why you are not replying and off course it was very rude of me. Next day you answered: "Well we need some time to sleep". Then I realized the time gap between Japan and US.

    It is really nice to see you are so active during these years and still have kept you MVP title.

    Good lock for you.

    Was this answer helpful?

    0 comments
  2. Charles Kenyon 170.9K Reputation points Volunteer Moderator
    2016-05-19T02:54:53+00:00

    ***

    Having been a word user for many years, and only having this happen to me recently after years and thousands of documents, the last entry by the attorney at law jogged a synapse which may be the answer for me since the issue occurred with a revision of a template.   Even with that in mind, I have not been able to find a field code in the template than any I have used in the past 15 years.

    This is a serious flaw for me as a physician since records I keep need to have the accurate time and date for legal purposes.  It is a disaster.  I cannot believe this problem has surfaced after working through multiple versions of word for many years.

    ***

    Bob,

    I am an attorney. Dates are critical in my work as well. That is why I learned to use the tools Word has to deal with them. This is not new.

    I wrote most of the page Using Date Fields in Microsoft Word to share what I learned. It appears that was in 2000 or 2001. I have updated that page over the years, but the Date field has not changed at all during that time.

    If you are looking for a field code, try pressing Alt+F9. Remember to press it again to toggle it back when you are done looking, though.

    Was this answer helpful?

    0 comments
  3. Jay Freedman 208.2K Reputation points Volunteer Moderator
    2016-05-19T02:38:34+00:00

    This is a serious flaw for me as a physician since records I keep need to have the accurate time and date for legal purposes.  It is a disaster.  I cannot believe this problem has surfaced after working through multiple versions of word for many years.

    If I cannot solve it, I will look for alternative programs for recording notes.   I always print copies.. so I am protected. For this issue to be dismissed so lightly has greatly dissapointed me. 

    Bob

    As Suzanne S. Barnhill said in her post that's marked as an Answer at the beginning of this thread:

    ...the date that the document was created is stored within it at creation, so you can change a DATE field to CREATEDATE at any time to recover that original date even if the DATE field has updated to the current date.

    Therefore your situation is not a disaster; it is easily remedied.

    Was this answer helpful?

    0 comments