Please Note: This article is written for users of the following Microsoft Word versions: 2007, 2010, 2013, and 2016. If you are using an earlier version (Word 2003 or earlier), this tip may not work for you. For a version of this tip written specifically for earlier versions of Word, click here: Inserting the Edit Time.

Inserting the Edit Time

by Allen Wyatt
(last updated November 14, 2015)

Word keeps track of how long you work with a file. You can see this information on the Statistics tab of the Properties dialog box. As far as Word is concerned, the cumulative time you have the file open is considered the editing time for the document. You can insert this time, in minutes, in your document by using the following steps:

Position the insertion point where you want the editing time inserted.
Display the Insert tab of the ribbon.
Click the Quick Parts tool (in the Text group) and then click Fields. Word displays the Field dialog box.
Choose Date and Time from the Categories list. (See Figure 1.)

Figure 1. The Field dialog box.

Select EditTime from the list of available fields.
Click on OK.

WordTips is your source for cost-effective Microsoft Word training. (Microsoft Word is the most popular word processing software in the world.) This tip (400) applies to Microsoft Word 2007, 2010, 2013, and 2016. You can find a version of this tip for the older menu interface of Word here: Inserting the Edit Time.

Author Bio

Allen Wyatt

With more than 50 non-fiction books and numerous magazine articles to his credit, Allen Wyatt is an internationally recognized author. He is president of Sharon Parq Associates, a computer and publishing services company. Learn more about Allen...

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What is one more than 7?

2018-03-26 18:13:31

David Gardner

Why would anyone find edit time useful? Unless you only have one document open at a time, and always, always remember to close it when you're not actually editing it, the edit time will be inaccurate. Example: You open the document and while you're editing, you receive an important phone call. If the call takes a while to complete, and you forgot to close the document, your edit time is now added to the time you were on the phone. If you weren't paying attention to how much time you were on the phone, and your phone doesn't track the duration of your call, your actual edit time is now inaccurate. Unless Microsoft comes up with a way to stop counting editing time after you've been inactive on the document for a short period of time, this feature is useless.

2015-11-16 14:58:24

Danielle

In Word 2010 and 2013 (O365), "Edit Time" is a separate category.

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