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!

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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.

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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.

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  1. Paul Edstein 82,871 Reputation points Volunteer Moderator
    2015-10-12T10:09:27+00:00

    If you converted the field to a CREATEDATE field, the change is easily undone. Simply press Alt-F9 to expose the field codes, then delete the 'CREATE' part of 'CREATEDATE'. If the document has lots of these fields, you can even use Find/Replace to Find CREATEDATE and replace it with DATE. When you're done, press Alt-F9 again to hide the field codes, then Ctrl-A, F9 to update all fields in the document.

    If you have unlinked the field, via Ctrl-Shift-F9, that replaces the field with its text and there is no simple method of restoring to original field unless you haven't closed it since making the change (in which case you could use Undo). As an alternative to unlinking the date fields, you could lock them, via Ctrl-F11, so they can be unlocked later on via Ctrl-Shift-F11.

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  2. Anonymous
    2015-10-12T09:48:51+00:00

    Hello Suzanne,

    Thanks for replying.

    I have made changes to my word through your document. But can I undo what I have done?

    Please let me know asap.

    Thank You

    Ankita

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  3. Charles Kenyon 170.9K Reputation points Volunteer Moderator
    2015-08-21T23:24:25+00:00

    But many if not most documents are revised over days, then perhaps wait until a publish date and then the date to be preserved is the final date.  So we want the date field updated until it is final, then preserved.  We want everything and for it to be easy.  Wishful thinking. 

    I agree with Suzanne that a SAVEDATE field unlinked when you want would work, as would a DATE field unlinked when you want. I sometimes use something a bit less intuitive. I use the CREATEDATE field and use SaveAs when I have it in final form. Then I update the CreateDate field.

    Word is never going to know, by itself, when you are done, when it is final.

    I sometimes take a final document, use SaveAs to give it a different name, and change it dramaticallys. In those instances, the CreateDate field works well.

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