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
    2016-09-14T19:51:10+00:00

    I suppose I mean that Word does not automatically come up with what you would expect, ie an unaltered date.  Having switched from WordPerfect, this is what I was used to.  So that on using Word as a new user, new blank page, nothing set or changed, one is unaware that the letter saved will have a different date next time you open it, ie today's date.  This I appreciate can be changed but by default the date should remain the same without having to get into creating fields etc, which some users don't wish to do.  Fortunately I had a brother who told me over the phone how to retrieve the original dates and to set the program so that the date remained the same, but it is obvious from this thread, that many find it complicated, however incomprehensible you may find that.  Word does many wonderful things but I reckon most don't even venture that far into it and just want to type a letter and document and keep it for the record.  I may be wrong and hear howls of protest from those who can do fantastic stuff with the program!  I am probably just lazy.....

    The points Suzanne and others have been trying to make are (I think):

    1. If you type the date in, it stays what you typed.
    2. If you let Word autocomplete that date for you, it stays what you typed.
    3. If you insert a DATE field using any of various methods, you get a date which is always the date you look at the document. This is a predictable result, even though it may not be the one you expect.
    4. There are alternatives to the DATE field that give different, predictable, results.
    5. Word designers could have chosen to make the CREATEDATE field easier to insert than the DATE field. If they had, they would have had a bunch of people upset because they went to the trouble of using a field and it didn't do anything. They could not make everyone happy with this.
    6. It is possible to set Word up so that it produces a CREATEDATE field easily. By default, Alt+Shift+D inserts a DATE field. The way Word works these days, it gives the user a choice of formats and asks the user whether they want the date they will be entering to automatically update. If the user chooses an automatically updating date, they get the DATE field. In Word 97, that keyboard shortcut just automatically inserted the DATE field. This was changed by Word 2003 to give the user some choice.
    7. It is certainly possible to attach some other action to that keyboard shortcut.

    I have many **templates**that I have developed in my legal practice. They all use a CREATEDATE field. When a new document is created from one of them, a Date is automatically inserted that does not change. When I am simply typing something, unless I am trying to make it a template, I just type the date. It isn't that hard.

    The problem comes up when one creates a document from a template that has a DATE field in it. That is almost certainly a problem in template design. It may be the problem you are facing. Also, many people do not use templates, but rather reopen documents, make changes and save under a new name. In those instances, often a DATE field is used in the document so it will update when changed. This is a problem not only  with the field being used, but also with the refusal to create and use templates.

    Word is not Wordperfect, nor is it OpenOffice, WordStar, MultiMate, or WordPad. It does work differently.

    Word for Wordperfect Users

    Basic Concepts of Microsoft Word - from Shauna Kelly

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  2. Anonymous
    2016-09-14T17:10:18+00:00

    I suppose I mean that Word does not automatically come up with what you would expect, ie an unaltered date.  Having switched from WordPerfect, this is what I was used to.  So that on using Word as a new user, new blank page, nothing set or changed, one is unaware that the letter saved will have a different date next time you open it, ie today's date.  This I appreciate can be changed but by default the date should remain the same without having to get into creating fields etc, which some users don't wish to do.  Fortunately I had a brother who told me over the phone how to retrieve the original dates and to set the program so that the date remained the same, but it is obvious from this thread, that many find it complicated, however incomprehensible you may find that.  Word does many wonderful things but I reckon most don't even venture that far into it and just want to type a letter and document and keep it for the record.  I may be wrong and hear howls of protest from those who can do fantastic stuff with the program!  I am probably just lazy.....

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  3. Suzanne S Barnhill 279.2K Reputation points MVP Volunteer Moderator
    2016-09-14T14:46:52+00:00

    I'm not sure what you and others mean by "the default." The default is that if you type a date as text, it does not change. The purpose of fields is to react to changes. A PAGE field shows a different number on each page. The fields used for paragraph and note numbering update when paragraphs/notes are added or removed. A TOC field can be updated when headings are added or changed. An INDEX field is compiled from index entries in the text. Whenever you insert a field, your expectation should be that it is mutable (unless you lock or unlink it). If the "default" were to insert a CREATEDATE field, I'm sure you'd hear just as many howls of outrage.

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