Please Note: This article is written for users of the following Microsoft Word versions: 2007, 2010, 2013, 2016, 2019, and 2021. 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: Calculating a Future Date.

Calculating a Future Date

Written by Allen Wyatt (last updated January 30, 2021)
This tip applies to Word 2007, 2010, 2013, 2016, 2019, and 2021


If you are creating a macro to do some processing on a document, you may have a need to calculate a date at some point in the future. Using the VBA DateAdd function, this is quite easy. The function has the following syntax:

DateAdd(interval, number, startdate)

The original date that you begin with (typically today's date) is specified by the startdate argument. The interval argument indicates what you want to add to the startdate. For instance, if you want to add days, then interval would be the letter d. (This interval needs to be enclosed within quotes.) There are many different intervals you can specify:

Interval Meaning
d Day
ww Week
m Month
q Quarter
yyyy Year
y Day of year
w Weekday
h Hour
n Minute
s Second

Finally, the number argument specifies how many intervals you want to add to the date.

As an example, let's suppose you wanted to know the date that was 90 days in the future. You could use the following:

dFutureDate = DateAdd("d", 90, Date)

When executed, dFutureDate contains the date that is 90 days after today.

Note:

If you would like to know how to use the macros described on this page (or on any other page on the WordTips sites), I've prepared a special page that includes helpful information. Click here to open that special page in a new browser tab.

WordTips is your source for cost-effective Microsoft Word training. (Microsoft Word is the most popular word processing software in the world.) This tip (12916) applies to Microsoft Word 2007, 2010, 2013, 2016, 2019, and 2021. You can find a version of this tip for the older menu interface of Word here: Calculating a Future Date.

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

Deleting Paragraph Borders

Got a document that has a border around some paragraphs? Here's how you can get rid of the border in the fastest way ...

Discover More

Direction Arrows Confused

What do you do if you open a document, only to find that the arrow keys don't work the way that they should? The first ...

Discover More

Formatting Subtotal Rows

Excel automatically formats subtotals for you. But what if you want to change the default to something more suitable for ...

Discover More

Create Custom Apps with VBA! Discover how to extend the capabilities of Office 365 applications with VBA programming. Written in clear terms and understandable language, the book includes systematic tutorials and contains both intermediate and advanced content for experienced VB developers. Designed to be comprehensive, the book addresses not just one Office application, but the entire Office suite. Check out Mastering VBA for Microsoft Office 365 today!

More WordTips (ribbon)

Calculated Dates

Word makes it easy to insert today's date in a document, but not as easy to insert a date X number of days in the future. ...

Discover More

Changing Pronoun Gender

Sometimes it is necessary to change the gender of various pronouns used in a document. If you have a stock document that ...

Discover More

Passing Parameters to Functions

Functions can be used to perform repetitive tasks and return values to your main program. You can also pass values to a ...

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 two minus 0?

There are currently no comments for this tip. (Be the first to leave your comment—just use the simple form above!)


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.