Word.Tips.Net Welcome toWord.Tips.Net

Helpful Links

Tips.Net Home
WordTips Home

Ask a Word Question
Make a Comment

Tips.Net Store

WordTips FAQ
WordTips Premium

Learn Access Now
Free Printable Forms

Beauty Tips
Car Tips
Cleaning Tips
College Tips
Cooking Tips
Excel2007 Tips
ExcelTips
Family Tips
Gardening Tips
Health Tips
Home Tips
Legal Tips
Money Tips
Organizing Tips
Pest Tips
Pet Tips
Wedding Tips
Word2007 Tips
WordTips

Advertise on the
WordTips Site

Newest Tips

Arranging Document Windows

Specifying a Backup Location

Controlling Chart Gridlines

Merging Table Cells

Collapsing and Expanding Subdocuments

Zooming With the Keyboard

Initiating a New Search

 

Calculated Dates

Summary: Word makes it easy to insert today's date in a document, but not as easy to insert a date X number of days in the future. This tip discusses some ways that you can get around this apparent limitation. (This tip works with Microsoft Word 97, Word 2000, Word 2002, Word 2003, and Word 2007.)

John asked if there is a quick way to put a calculated date into a letter created in Word. He wanted to send out mail-merged letters with a date that is 30 days after the date on which the letters were created.

Unfortunately, there is no native way to do this in Word. For instance, there is no field code you can use to insert a calculated date. If you are using Excel or Access as your data source for the mail merge, the simplest solution may be to just add a field in the data source that shows the calculated date. (It is very easy to do this in both Excel and Access.) The data source field can then be placed in the mail-merge document and everything is set.

If you want to stick with Word and cannot modify the data source (perhaps someone else supplies it), then you can use a macro to insert the future date. The following VBA macro will do the trick:

Sub FutureDate()
    Selection.TypeText Text:=Format(Date + 30, "mmmm d, yyyy")
End Sub

This macro determines today's date, adds 30 days to it, formats it as specified in the format string ("mmmm d, yyyy") and inserts it into the document. If you assign this macro to a shortcut key, you can quickly insert your future date whenever you want.

Tip #810 applies to Microsoft Word versions: 97 | 2000 | 2002 | 2003 | 2007

Find and Replace Almost Anything! An invaluable resource for learning how to harness the full power of Word's search and replace capabilities. You'll discover everything you need in order to master all the intricacies of finding and replacing elements of your document, including the super-powerful "wildcard searches" available in Word.
 
Check out WordTips: Find and Replace today!