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. Anonymous
    2016-09-14T14:07:37+00:00

    Well yes, I have done this myself which is why I have not been on this thread for the past few years.  I did get a shock at the time thinking I had lost all my original dates and it is obvious I am not alone in that experience.  But you have to admit that people are still struggling with this however simple it may be and however many times you explain it.  My point is that you should not and would not have to seek a solution if the default were different - no matter how many years since its inception!

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  2. Suzanne S Barnhill 279.2K Reputation points MVP Volunteer Moderator
    2016-09-14T12:25:50+00:00

    If you type a date into Word, even if you allow Word to AutoComplete it for you and even if you have the "Update automatically" box checked in the Date and Time dialog, you will get a plain-text date that will never update. Only if you insert the date using Insert | Text | Date and Time (with the "Update automatically" box checked) or using Alt+Shift+D, a keyboard shortcut that runs the InsertDateField command (whose description is "Inserts a date field"), do you get a date field. Unsophisticated users will type the date without assistance; those who want to take advantage of Word's more powerful features owe it to themselves to find out what a date field is and does before using it.

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  3. Charles Kenyon 170.9K Reputation points Volunteer Moderator
    2016-09-14T12:15:32+00:00

    I agree, recently I had to supply a letter which had been written has a complaint, and it had changed the date from the original (which was in January) and had entered the current date which was September 7th 

    And now, having read this entire thread, you know how to fix this. You also know how to fix it. Right?

    In case you missed it, change the DATE field to a CREATEDATE field.

    Using Date Fields in Microsoft Word

    I'm sorry that you were surprised by Word acting the way it has worked since its inception.

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