Applies To: Word 2016 Word 2013 Word 2010 Word 2007 You can insert the current date, or the date and time, into a Word document as plain text or as a field that updates automatically. Insert today's date If you don't need the date to update automatically, you can insert the current date as text. • On the Insert tab, in the Text group, click Date & Time. • In the Date and time dialog box, select the format you want and click OK. The date is inserted as text. Nov 15, 2017 We use a Word Template in a SharePoint document library on a Recurring Meeting workspace to keep meeting minutes. Insert a date that updates automatically If you'd like the date to be updated every time someone opens the document, you can insert the date as a field. • On the Insert tab, in the Text group, click Date & Time. • In the Date and time dialog box, select the format you want. • Select the Update automatically check box. The date is inserted as a field and will update automatically. Edit or update a date field If you selected Update automatically when inserting the date, you'll see a faint gray box when you rest your mouse pointer over the date. This means you've inserted a field that you can change or update. • To edit the date, click the gray box, type a new date, and then click outside the box. • To change the date back to the current date, click the date field and click Update. You’ve probably already stumbled across one date-related field code: that in Microsoft Word. And it’s a handy thing to have around when you want that letter you’re working on to always have today’s date on it. But what if today’s date isn’t exactly what you need for, say, a pleading or other document? Here are some other date field tricks you probably don’t know about. Unless otherwise noted below, all instructions and screenshots are for Microsoft Office 2010 for Windows. Date and Time The “today’s date” field code (available on the Insert tab in the Text section as “Date and Time”) can insert the current date and/or time into any Microsoft Word document. If you want it to automatically update each time you retrieve your document, leave that “update automatically” checkbox below checked; otherwise, it’ll insert a plain string of text that reflects the date and time when you inserted it. But there are other field codes that can calculate dates for you. For example: SaveDate This is my favorite field code, because it inserts the date and/or time you last saved the document. Here are some spots I frequently use that field code: • In my letterhead template (saves me from typing/updating the date each time I start or edit a letter) • In the footer of a draft document to help distinguish one draft from another (handy when several drafts are floating around) • In Certificates of Service included in pleading templates (updates the date of service automatically just before I pdf the document for e-filing) To insert that field code, go to the Insert tab and, under QuickParts, choose Field. To make the SaveDate easier to find, I usually choose Date and Time under the Categories drop-down, which gives me a much shorter list of available field codes: You can format the date several ways, depending on which option you choose to the right (under Field Properties). The (the date the document was created) and (the date the document was last printed) field codes work in similar fashion. Ordinal dates Remember when I said I use the SaveDate field code to update the date in a Certificate of Service? That doesn’t mean that I can’t do that format with a calculated date just because the ever-popular “21st day of March, 2013″ doesn’t appear in the date format list above. I’ve created a QuickPart that formats the day as an ordinal date (1st, 2nd, 3rd, etc.), adds ” day of “, then adds the month and year. Storing it as a QuickPart means I can pop this into contracts, notary acknowledgements, etc., without having to go through all the steps below every single time. In the QuickPart, I use SaveDate twice: once for the ordinal day and the second time for the month and year. Go to the Fields dialog box as shown above. Once there, pick SaveDate and then any of the formats to the right (doesn’t matter which one, because we’re going to isolate the day of the month anyway). So, as you can see in step 1 above, we’re just leaving the “d” for the day of the month. Next, click Field Codes at the bottom (step 2 above). This is where we’ll format that “d” as an ordinal number (15th) by typing “* ordinal” after the “d” as shown below. Now, we’ll type ” day of ” (don’t forget those spaces) after our new ordinal number and move on to creating the MMMM, YYYY part. It’s a slight variation of the trick used above, except this time we’ll obviously isolate the month and year: Once this is done, the result looks like this:, with your mouse or keyboard, then go to the Insert tab, click QuickParts, then click “Save Selection as a Quick Part” and name it something you’ll remember. Calculated dates Calculating dates ( e.g., today + 30 days) in Microsoft Word is. Unlike Microsoft Excel, this isn’t a matter of embedding a fairly straightforward formula. You’re not out of luck, though. As I’ve said before, where Microsoft leaves off, clever plug-in programmers often fill in the gaps. One of the cleverest I’ve seen is, which will not only calculate dates but make creating and using document templates really easy. If you’re a member of the Lawyerist LAB, you can take advantage of a $10 discount code for the Pro version of TheFormTool. Just part of the wonderful world of field codes SaveDate and its cousins are part of the powerful feature that drives a lot of what you see in Microsoft Word. These hidden gems can be used in documents to help automate functions in your documents. Start experimenting with the date fields and work your way out from there.
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March 2018
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