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: Automatically Determining a Due Date.
Sharen asked if there is a way to automatically calculate a due date in a letter that has its beginnings as the result of a mail merge. The easiest answer may be to examine the data source you are using for your mail merge and add an extra "due date" field to the source. For instance, if you are using an Excel worksheet as your source, you might add a field (column) that contains a date that is thirty days in the future. Likewise, if you are using Access as your data source you could do the same thing.
This approach would, of course, give you a static date that is thirty days in the future based on when you performed your mail merge. If you wanted something a bit more dynamic, then you are left to work entirely within Word. For instance, you might want to open the merged letter, update the letter's date, and have the due date automatically change based on changing the letter date. Unfortunately, there is no way to do this within Word, since there is no way to do calculations on dates within fields. This means that you must still manually update the due dates.
One way to make the task a bit easier, so that you don't have to always examine a calendar to figure out thirty days in the future, is to use a macro. The following is a very simple macro that will insert a date thirty days from now:
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: 
Sub FutureDate()
Selection.TypeText Text:=Format(Date + 30, "mmmm d, yyyy")
End Sub
This macro determines today's date, adds 30 days to it, formats it as specified in the format string ("mmmm d, yyyy"), and inserts it into the document. If you assign this macro to a shortcut key, you can quickly insert your future date whenever you want, just by hitting the shortcut key.
Note:
WordTips is your source for cost-effective Microsoft Word training. (Microsoft Word is the most popular word processing software in the world.) This tip (10197) 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: Automatically Determining a Due Date.
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!
When you are merging data from an Access database, you may get more information than you want, especially when it comes ...
Discover MoreWhen you merge data from Excel into a Word document, you may need to do some conditional processing based on the data you ...
Discover MoreThe Mail Merge capabilities built into Word can appear limited at first glance. One thing that is often overlooked (and ...
Discover MoreFREE SERVICE: Get tips like this every week in WordTips, a free productivity newsletter. Enter your address and click "Subscribe."
2020-03-06 04:30:09
Chris
Hi Conor - I would think you could replace the merge field in the code with one of Word’s own date fields. I’ve never tried it but it could be worth a try.
2020-03-05 06:47:36
Conor Byrne
Chris, is there a way to have a date section in a document automatically update to three weeks in the future when the document is opened?
2017-02-15 09:16:25
Jay
Chris, I have been would be interested in that code. How can I contact you.
2016-02-09 05:52:34
Chris
I think what you're asking is for a box to appear that you can type your delay value into. As this is code that is part of a merge field, this isn't really necessary, although I suppose you could write a separate macro which includes a text box to add your delay value and have the macro update the field code, if that makes sense.
2016-02-08 21:42:19
Murray
Is there any way to require an input of the number of days delay, maybe with a default of 30days?
2016-02-02 10:04:44
Chris
There is a way to do this directly in Word. It is a very long, very convoluted piece of code, because you can't add 30 to a day - you'd end up with the 35th of <month>, which isn't ideal. There is a Word MVP called Macropod, and he created the code to do this directly in a mail merge document. I've used it and it works very well. As long as you check what you're doing, you can change the delay to be any number you want, and it will display the correct date. That way, it updates everytime the document is run. I have the code and can supply it if you're interested.
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.
FREE SERVICE: Get tips like this every week in WordTips, a free productivity newsletter. Enter your address and click "Subscribe."
Copyright © 2020 Sharon Parq Associates, Inc.
Comments