Stopping DATE Fields from Updating when Opening a Document

Written by Allen Wyatt (last updated September 16, 2023)
This tip applies to Word 2007, 2010, 2013, 2016, 2019, Word in Microsoft 365, and 2021


1

Thurletta opened a two-year-old letter, hoping to print it as evidence that she had written it two years ago. When opening, though, the date in the letter was updated, thereby making it useless for the evidentiary purpose she desired. She wonders if there is a way in Word to suppress the automatic update of fields when a document is opened.

When you use the Insert Date tool to add a date into a document, by default Word inserts the DATE field. This field always reflects the current date, which means that every time fields are updated in the document, the DATE field is updated to reflect today's date.

This can be a problem in situations like Thurletta's. Unfortunately, there is no way to stop those fields from updating when opening the document. There may be ways around the problem, however. One potential solution is to try these steps:

  1. Open the document you created two years ago.
  2. Select the date (the one that updated to today's date).
  3. Display the Insert tab of the ribbon.
  4. In the Text group, click Quick Parts | Fields. Word displays the Field dialog box.
  5. Choose Date and Time as the field category at the left side of the dialog box. (See Figure 1.)
  6. Figure 1. The Field dialog box.

  7. Select CreateDate from the Field Names list.
  8. Click OK to close the Field dialog box and insert the field.

What these steps do is to replace the original DATE field with the CREATEDATE field, which always reflects the date the document was first created. This may well suffice, assuming that the document was actually created two years ago and not longer ago. (For instance, if your two-year-old document started out as a three-year-old document that you simply modified and saved under a different name.)

You could also see important dates related to your document by taking a look at the Properties dialog box. How you display the dialog box depends on the version of Word you are using:

  • If you are using Word 2007 click the Office button, then choose Prepare | Properties. Word displays the Document Information Panel at the top of the document. Use the Document Properties drop-down list (top-left corner of the Document Information Panel) to choose Advanced Properties. Word displays the Properties dialog box.
  • If you are using a later version of Word, click the File tab of the ribbon and then click Info | Properties | Advanced Properties. Word displays the Properties dialog box.

Regardless of which version of Word you are using, make sure the Statistics tab is displayed. (See Figure 2.)

Figure 2. The Statistics tab of the Properties dialog box.

Note that at the top of the dialog box you can see when the document was created, when it was last modified, and when it was last accessed. If you capture a screen shot of this information, that may suffice to prove when the document was actually written.

In conclusion, there is a lesson to be learned here: If you don't want the date shown in your documents to change, don't use the Insert Date tool. Instead, type the date the old fashioned way. Or, if you absolutely want to use the Insert Date tool, select the date (after it is inserted) and press Ctrl+Shift+F9. This "unlinks" the field, essentially converting it to static text—meaning the date won't change in the future.

WordTips is your source for cost-effective Microsoft Word training. (Microsoft Word is the most popular word processing software in the world.) This tip (1994) applies to Microsoft Word 2007, 2010, 2013, 2016, 2019, Word in Microsoft 365, and 2021.

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. ...

MORE FROM ALLEN

Controlling the Display of Chart Axes in Microsoft Graph

When you create a chart in Microsoft Graph, you might now want to see one or both of the axes included by default. Here's ...

Discover More

Missing Fonts in a Letterhead

When you create a document (such as a letterhead) that you want multiple people to use, you need to be concerned with ...

Discover More

Changing Styles

Styles are a great boon to making your documents look better and making them easier to update. You can change the ...

Discover More

Learning Made Easy! Quickly teach yourself how to format, publish, and share your content using Word 2013. With Step by Step, you set the pace, building and practicing the skills you need, just when you need them! Check out Microsoft Word 2013 Step by Step today!

More WordTips (ribbon)

Inserting Page Number Cross-References

Want to insert a dynamic cross-reference to a particular page number? It's easy to do following the steps in this tip.

Discover More

Deleting All Fields

Fields can be a great way of adding small snippets of dynamic data to your documents. However, you may want to get rid of ...

Discover More

Fields Won't Update when Printing

When you print a document, Word normally performs several steps, one of which is to update any fields contained in the ...

Discover More
Subscribe

FREE SERVICE: Get tips like this every week in WordTips, a free productivity newsletter. Enter your address and click "Subscribe."

View most recent newsletter.

Comments

If you would like to add an image to your comment (not an avatar, but an image to help in making the point of your comment), include the characters [{fig}] (all 7 characters, in the sequence shown) in your comment text. You’ll be prompted to upload your image when you submit the comment. Maximum image size is 6Mpixels. Images larger than 600px wide or 1000px tall will be reduced. Up to three images may be included in a comment. All images are subject to review. Commenting privileges may be curtailed if inappropriate images are posted.

What is 6 - 0?

2023-09-16 05:35:50

Dr. Bartolo

There are other options to consider as well.

One (my preference) is to use the SAVEDATE field rather than using the insert date tool. The latter creates a DATE field, not a SAVEDATE field. The result of using the SAVEDATE field only updates (a) after the file is saved and (b) when you highlight the field and press F9.

The other thing one could do is to select the DATE field result and press Ctrl + F11 before closing the file. That locks the result in place so that opening the file later, even years later, the DATE field result will not change. But that only works if you remember to lock the DATE field when you create the file.


This Site

Got a version of Word that uses the ribbon interface (Word 2007 or later)? This site is for you! If you use an earlier version of Word, visit our WordTips site focusing on the menu interface.

Videos
Subscribe

FREE SERVICE: Get tips like this every week in WordTips, a free productivity newsletter. Enter your address and click "Subscribe."

(Your e-mail address is not shared with anyone, ever.)

View the most recent newsletter.