Time Stamps automatically changed to same time!

hydrogyny · #1 02-08-2015, 10:28 PM

So, I am a field logger for a television show which means I have to use the time code option in microsoft word every few seconds so that i have an accurate log of when every action and bit if dialogue happened.

I was able to find out how to insert the current time by using shift + command + t and it will enter a unique and accurate time stamp.

So, I'll spend 13 hours logging an entire day's work, saving periodically and end up with an accurate log for the editors to use later.

but for some f'ing reason Word will randomly change ALL of the times to the same time! The entire page will be just fine when I save... but sometimes randomly I will come back to the document and it will have changed all of the unique timestamps to ONE time! It will just decide that i wanted 3,000 times to all read 14:02:02 throughout the entire document!

Sometimes I will have saved and closed the document and when I reopen it, the time codes will have all changed to one time. Sometimes it will even do it without closing the document. There doesn't seem to be any rhyme or reason for this and it's completely screwing me over.

so instead of...

12:59:03 | JG: Hello!
12:59:15 | JG: Today we are dealing with...
13:01:04 | B: Tell me how that made you feel?
13:02:08 | JG: Well, gee golly.
13:04:04 | B: What I think...

will turn into...

21:23:20 | JG: Hello!
21:23:20 | JG: Today we are dealing with...
21:23:20 | B: Tell me how that made you feel?
21:23:20 | JG: Well, gee golly.
21:23:20 | B: What I think...

for 75 pages! As far as I can tell there's no UNDO function, every single saved copy (backup files) will all read the same! Even digging deep into the auto saves, they will have all changed to this as well.

I've never had this problem on any other computer... why is this happening? it's driving me to the end of my rope and I can't even find any searches to figure out why it's happening and how to fix it.

It's basically going to get me fired because my logs have become useless.

Please help me :{

gmayor · #2 02-08-2015, 10:40 PM

It seems you have used a time field, which displays the current time from the system clock and the field is not locked. It would be better not to use a time field but to insert the current time as text and then it can't happen. You could probably do this witha macro, but I am not sure how compatible the Mac is. The following would work on a PC, and may work on a Mac.

There will be no record of the intended time in the document, so there's not a lot that you can do about it.

Code:

Sub InsertTime()
Dim orng As Range
    Set orng = Selection.Range
    orng.Text = Format(Time, "HH:MM:SS |")
    orng.Collapse 0
    orng.Select
lbl_Exit:
    Exit Sub
End Sub

See http://www.gmayor.com/installing_macro.htm

hydrogyny · #3 02-09-2015, 12:53 PM

So, basically you're saying (what i figured) is that there's no way to reference what all those previous times were, so those are gone for good? Sigh, oh well.

But from now on... using this Macro (thank you!) they should remain the same and not change?

Do you know why the Macro option would remain the same after closing / opening, but the way I was doing it before wouldn't? Just curious about the reasoning behind it... but as far as I can tell what you posted worked, so thanks a bunch!

Guessed · #4 02-09-2015, 05:35 PM

The macro is putting 'typed text' into the document so the text won't change automatically. You were putting in fields which showed the time when the field was last updated. This was fine until the fields were updated. It also would have remained fine if the fields were either locked or broken by selecting them and pressing the relevant keyboard shortcuts. However at some stage the fields got updated so they all showed the same time. There are Word options that can be turned off/on that automatically update fields when opening or printing a document - I suspect this is what happened to your document if you didn't select the fields and update them yourself.

It sounds like your workflow is more complicated than it needs to be. In order to minimise keystrokes you should associate the macro with a keyboard command. For instance, I would use the following modification to Graham's code and associate it with Ctrl-Alt-Enter so I didn't need to type the paragraph mark as well.

Code:

Sub InsertReturnTime()
  Dim orng As Range
  Set orng = Selection.Range
  orng.Text = vbCr & Format(Time, "HH:MM:SS | ")
  orng.Collapse 0
  orng.Select
lbl_Exit:
  Exit Sub
End Sub

Charles Kenyon · #5 02-09-2015, 08:57 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by hydrogyny

Do you know why the Macro option would remain the same after closing / opening, but the way I was doing it before wouldn't? Just curious about the reasoning behind it... but as far as I can tell what you posted worked, so thanks a bunch!

The method you were using was the insertion of a TIME field. This is really a variant of the DATE field which is good for showing the date or time that is NOW but not good for much else.
Using Date Fields in Microsoft Word
There are a number of fields that handle date and time. They can be very useful, but none would give you a time stamp that would stay unchanged when you insert a number of them at different times.

A TIME or DATE field can be locked so that it will not change, but this is an additional step. Such a field can still be unlocked, in which case it will lose its value. It can also be unlinked. That would change it to plain text.

The macro method is superior for your purposes.

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