Please Note: This article is written for users of the following Microsoft Word versions: 2007, 2010, and 2013. 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.
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:
Please Note:
This article is written for users of the following Microsoft Word versions: 2007, 2010, and 2013. 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: 
dFutureDate = DateAdd("d", 90, Date)
When executed, dFutureDate contains the date that is 90 days after 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 (12916) applies to Microsoft Word 2007, 2010, and 2013. You can find a version of this tip for the older menu interface of Word here: Calculating a Future Date.
Comprehensive VBA Guide Visual Basic for Applications (VBA) is the language used for writing macros in all Office programs. This complete guide shows both professionals and novices how to master VBA in order to customize the entire Office suite for their needs. Check out Mastering VBA for Office 2010 today!
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2016-01-12 17:01:23
How do you insert this macro into a Word document? I have been using a Date Picker Context Control box, for a current date, but I need to add a block for a future date. Can you please help me?
Thanks,
2015-09-10 11:28:30
ken
Private Sub Document_Open()
Dim myDate As Date
Dim myRng As Range
'Set the starting date with the value of a field
Set myRng = ActiveDocument.Fields(1).Result
myDate = myRng
myRng = DateAdd("d", 1, Date)
End Sub
2015-07-24 12:50:02
Joe Frasca
Thanks for posting this tip. It seems clear and I will be trying it.
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