Please Note: This article is written for users of the following Microsoft Word versions: 2007, 2010, 2013, 2016, 2019, and Word in Microsoft 365. 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: Age Calculation with Fields.
Written by Allen Wyatt (last updated January 9, 2021)
This tip applies to Word 2007, 2010, 2013, 2016, 2019, and Word in Microsoft 365
If you desire, you can use fields to calculate an age. For instance, the field could calculate the number of years between some base date and today's date. The following compound field will do the trick:
{ = INT({ DATE \@ "yyyy" } + { DATE \@ "M" } / 12 + { DATE \@ "d" } / 365.25 - YYYYb - Mb / 12 - Db / 365.25) }
As those who are familiar with fields know, each pair of braces in this sample represents a new field. Thus, to put in the entire compound field, you will need to press Ctrl+F9 a total of four times. This can get a bit complex, as you cannot copy what is shown above and paste it into your document. Instead, you need to type it all in. For instance, here are the first few steps:
As I said, these are only the first few steps, but it should give you the general idea of how this compound field should be entered—you can't paste it; you must type it. Examine the compound field shown above and note everywhere that a pair of {braces} occurs—those are field braces and MUST be entered by pressing Ctrl+F9, as illustrated in the steps above.
In addition, you should replace the YYYYb, Mb, and Db placeholders with the year, month, and day of month for the base date. For instance, if your birthday were 21 June 1959, then you would replace YYYYb with 1959, replace Mb with 6, and Db with 21.
When you then calculate the compound field (by selecting it all and pressing F9), it is replaced with a number representing the number of years between the base date and today.
WordTips is your source for cost-effective Microsoft Word training. (Microsoft Word is the most popular word processing software in the world.) This tip (9541) applies to Microsoft Word 2007, 2010, 2013, 2016, 2019, and Word in Microsoft 365. You can find a version of this tip for the older menu interface of Word here: Age Calculation with Fields.
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2024-01-23 05:04:40
Douglas
Does not work.
2022-08-06 15:05:48
JohnB
On my PC (Surface Pro 5) it seems like I have to use CTRL-FN-F9 to open the braces.
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