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. Charles Kenyon 170.9K Reputation points Volunteer Moderator
    2016-05-19T02:38:17+00:00

    Josmarie,

    ***

    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

    No one is dismissing it. The problem, to the extent it is a problem, is that the default for Insert Date using Alt+Shift+D has long been a Date Field. It has been this way since at least Word 97 and I think I believe it was the situation in Word 3.0.

    If you use Insert > Date and Time, you get a date like you would get if you typed it. If you check "Automatically update" you get a Date field that automatically updates. The program works as designed.

    The problem is that the designers picked one option and people do not know that there are other options out there. I expect the designers picked the option they believed most people wanted to use.

    Using Date Fields in Microsoft Word

    In approximately 1999 I learned how to change Alt+Shift+D to insert a CreateDate field in the format I wanted. I've been using that ever since. I also put that type of field in my templates. It is not hard, it is something I could certainly teach to a fifth grader. On the page linked above, you can download a free Add-In that puts many choices on a menu.

    Yes, Word is a BIG (bloated) program with lots of quirks. I do not know that anyone understands it completely, including those who designed it. Frankly, WordPad, which is free with every version of Windows has far fewer quirks and is much easier to learn. It may be just what you want for taking notes. I do not believe WordPad has fields.

    P.S. In many many (too many) years as a lawyer and as a person who tries to help others make use of Word, I have been called many things: a curmudgeon is perhaps my favorite, but now, thanks to you, I can add arrogant to my list of accolades. Like the others who donate their time here, I don't work for Microsoft and I don't make excuses for them.

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  2. Paul Edstein 82,871 Reputation points Volunteer Moderator
    2016-05-18T23:05:02+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 attourney at law jogged a synapse which may be the answer for me since the issue occured 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.

    ...

    I cannot believe this problem has surfaced after working through multiple versions of word for many years.

    Frankly, I'm amazed anyone could use Word as extensively as you claim to only so belatedly learn that such a prominent documented feature that Word has had for ~30 years works the way it does...

    As for your snide remarks about 'the team', I should point out that none of the contributors to this thread works for Microsoft. Ultimately, you need to take a step back and learn how to use the tools at your disposal. 15 years without doing so is rather too long.

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  3. Doug Robbins - MVP - Office Apps and Services 323.6K Reputation points MVP Volunteer Moderator
    2016-05-18T22:59:20+00:00

    ABSOLUTELY nothing has changed in this respect in at least the last 20 years (I have actually been using Word for over 30 years but I do not know remember when fields were introduced).

    If you send me the template that you are using, referencing this thread in the covering email message, I will take a look at it and let you know the results.

    Note, the participants in this thread are your peers.

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