#1
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Stop Automatic Date-Update
I find that sometimes documents I receive (not documents I create!) change the date to the current date every time I open them. These are always from companies, so I assume they have the date field formatted into their letterhead templates to update to the current date. I have a series of letters from a law firm, and they update every time I open or print them, which is very bad, because I need to know when they were written! And when I print them, I want the original date on them! Is there a way to set my Office programs never to automatically update dates on any docs I open or print? Or never to automatically make any changes to other people's docs? I find that all posts in forums on this issue tell you how to change this on a particular document you have created/are creating/will create, or for a particular date on a particular document. But I want to know how to keep Word and Excell from changing other peoples' docs when I open or print them. Even if I go back now and select a particular date in a particular doc, I would not know what date to change it back to because I have no idea when it was written--every time I printed it, it changed the date! This has really screwed up my correspondence records..:-(... Please note that I am using Word 2003 on Windows 7. Thanks for any suggestions. |
#2
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Basic answer: No.
If a date updates, it is because it is a field. Using Date Fields in Microsoft Word For your own documents, you may be able to recover the original date by changing it to a CreateDate field (from a Date field). Such fields in any templates you use should be changed to a CreateDate field. Documents created using the template will then have the date the document is created. For documents you receive from others, you can try it. It may give you the original creation date. I've tried it on documents I've received and the date given predates the Windows creation date shown on my computer. Problems like this are one of the reasons for saving historical documents as pdf rather than as Word files. |
#3
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Stop Automatic Date-Update
So what do e.g., lawyers do--people who keep all their client files digitally? They can never know what dates other lawyers' letters were written. I'm assuming the law firm I used is not the only one that uses a date field. Should companies who have a date field in their template be doing something to their finished letter to keep the date from changing when the recipient opens it? Seems to me if you are keeping a letter, you are llikely to want to know at some point when it was written....
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#4
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I do not - ever - send another lawyer a Word document unless I want him/her to make changes and send it back with the changes - in other words - it is a draft. Likewise with documents sent to clients.
I send pdf. That is the only way I know of to be sure that what the other side sees is what I saw when I sent it. What happens when I send my document to someone else? Will Word mess up my formatting? In addition, Word files can contain metadata, some of which might compromise client confidentiality or negotiation strategy. When I receive a Word document from another attorney, I save it with a date as part of the name in the client file. I may freeze any dates if I think of it. Most law firms are well aware of the vagaries of the date field. Many are not aware of metadata or the problems with text reflow. The simplest way to prevent the problem in your own documents is to use a CREATEDATE field instead of a DATE field in your documents' templates. Using Date Fields in Microsoft Word Another option if not using a template (why aren't you using a template for common documents?) is to simply type the date. Typing the date puts text into the document rather than a field. Generally when documents are prepared and mailed out physically, they are scanned in my office before they are mailed and the pdf is saved along with the Word version. |
#5
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Hi Charles,
Like yourself, I would never send out a Word doc.--only pdf. I'm a goldsmith, so all my client correspondence is actually email letters with graphic/image attachments in pdf form. I don't use any Word templates. I think the legal letter in question for me may have had the constantly-changing date because it was the final copy of a draft going back and forth between us. I believe they send out their letters as hard copy registered mail. The second time I noticed the problem of a changing date was on an Excel file of tables for my company's discounted UPS rates. |
#6
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Don't know much about Excel, sorry.
Again, if you find the DATE field and change it to a CREATEDATE field it will give you something that may be meaningful. |
#7
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Office 2003 does not seem to give a CREATEDATE option--at least not in Word or Excel.... Thus my post....
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#8
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Word 97 had and has a CreateDate field. It has been a part of Word for at least that long. Thus my web page which, I believe, was written in 2000.
Using Date Fields in Microsoft Word It is not an option, it is a field, as is the Date field. Using Fields in Microsoft Word If you press Alt+F9 you can search for the document for "date" and likely find the field(s). |
#9
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What I meant was, CreateDate does not appear in the date's r-click menu in the documents where this was a problem. Please note that most posts on this subject deal with how to set up your own docs, not how to change the automatic date update in your copy of another company's letter which you receive.
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#10
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Quote:
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#11
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If a simple date is typed as text from the keyboard, it is not going to update any more than if you were to type in this sentence, it would update. If your date is updating, you have inserted a date field. Right click and toggle the field to view the field.
A CREATEDATE field reflects the date the document was created (or saved using SAVEAS). You can insert it as many times as you require in a document and it will always display that date. The problem highlighted with CREATEDATE is that the document is saved using SAVINGAS with a different name. The date you do that then becomes the new CREATEDATE. You cannot stop a date field from updating. It will update to reflect the system date of the computer when the document is opened and you cannot undo that change. You can change that DATE field to a CREATEDATE field but there is no guarantee that the date thus produced was the intended date. As long as documents are renamed the CREATEDATE will be an issue. Just make sure that it isn't an issue for others in your documents, by inserting the dates as text and not as fields. If you are using a template which has lots of Date fields, then unlink them before saving the document for the last time. You can do that with a macro http://www.gmayor.com/installing_macro.htm e.g. Code:
Option Explicit Sub UnlinkAllDateFields() Dim oStory As Range Dim oFld As Field For Each oStory In ActiveDocument.StoryRanges For Each oFld In oStory.Fields If oFld.Type = wdFieldDate Or oFld.Type = wdFieldDate Then oFld.Unlink End If Next oFld If oStory.StoryType <> wdMainTextStory Then While Not (oStory.NextStoryRange Is Nothing) Set oStory = oStory.NextStoryRange For Each oFld In oStory.Fields If oFld.Type = wdFieldDate Or oFld.Type = wdFieldDate Then oFld.Unlink End If Next oFld Wend End If Next oStory Set oStory = Nothing lbl_Exit: Exit Sub End Sub
__________________
Graham Mayor - MS MVP (Word) (2002-2019) Visit my web site for more programming tips and ready made processes www.gmayor.com |
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