Please Note: This article is written for users of the following Microsoft Word versions: 97, 2000, 2002, and 2003. If you are using a later version (Word 2007 or later), this tip may not work for you. For a version of this tip written specifically for later versions of Word, click here: Inserting the Date Your Document was Last Saved.

Inserting the Date Your Document was Last Saved

Written by Allen Wyatt (last updated December 21, 2024)
This tip applies to Word 97, 2000, 2002, and 2003

Every time you save a document in Word, some of the document properties information is automatically updated. Part of the information is the date on which the document was last saved. You can insert this date into your documents and have it updated automatically, if you so desire. To insert the last date your document was saved in your document, follow these steps:

Position the insertion point where you want the date to appear.
Choose Field from the Insert menu. You will see the Field dialog box.
Choose Date and Time from the field categories at the left of the dialog box. (See Figure 1.)

Figure 1. The Field dialog box.

Select SaveDate from the field list at the right side of the dialog box.
Click on Options to select a date format, if desired.
Click on OK to insert the field.

WordTips is your source for cost-effective Microsoft Word training. (Microsoft Word is the most popular word processing software in the world.) This tip (1196) applies to Microsoft Word 97, 2000, 2002, and 2003. You can find a version of this tip for the ribbon interface of Word (Word 2007 and later) here: Inserting the Date Your Document was Last Saved.

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. Learn more about Allen...

MORE FROM ALLEN

Turning Off "Link to Previous" by Default

When you add a new section to a document, you may want the headers or footers in that section to be different from those ...

Discover More

Displaying Numbers as Spaced Pairs

Custom formats can be very powerful in Excel, but not every formatting scenario can be addressed through the use of a ...

Discover More

Changing the Color of a List of Words

The Find and Replace tool is very powerful. If you need to use it many, many times in a row, however, it can quickly get ...

Discover More

The First and Last Word on Word! Bestselling For Dummies author Dan Gookin puts his usual fun and friendly candor back to work to show you how to navigate Word 2013. Spend more time working and less time trying to figure it all out! Check out Word 2013 For Dummies today!

More WordTips (menu)

Inserting the User's Initials

One of the pieces of information tracked by Word are your name and initials. You can insert your initials by using the ...

Discover More

Setting Your Default Document Directory

Word allows you to specify where it should start looking for your documents. This setting can come in handy if you store ...

Discover More

Conditional Calculations in Word

Word allows you to insert simple formulas, using fields, in table cells. You can also create simple conditional ...

Discover More

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.

Notify me about new comments ONLY FOR THIS TIP

Notify me about new comments ANYWHERE ON THIS SITE

Hide my email address

What is 7 - 7?

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 menu interface (Word 97, Word 2000, Word 2002, or Word 2003)? This site is for you! If you use a later version of Word, visit our WordTips site focusing on the ribbon interface.