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: Understanding DATE Field Formatting.

Understanding DATE Field Formatting

Written by Allen Wyatt (last updated November 4, 2017)
This tip applies to Word 97, 2000, 2002, and 2003


1

When you insert a DATE field in Word, you can specify a format for how the date is displayed by using the \@ switch with the field. For instance, if you wanted to display the date as 18 September 2010, you would use the following syntax for the DATE field:

{ DATE \@ "d MMMM yyyy" }

You can easily change the format for the date by changing what is within the quote marks. The options are as follows:

Format Code Meaning
M Displays one or two digits for the month, as necessary.
MM Always displays two digits for the month.
MMM The three-letter abbreviation for the month.
MMMM The full name of the month.
d Displays one or two digits for the day of the month, as necessary.
dd Always displays two digits for the day of the month.
ddd The three-letter abbreviation for the day of the week.
dddd The full name of the day of the week.
yy Always displays two digits for the year.
yyyy Always displays four digits for the year.

Note that the letter M must be uppercase in all formats, but that the letters d and y can be upper or lower. Any other characters you use in the format string are displayed as entered.

WordTips is your source for cost-effective Microsoft Word training. (Microsoft Word is the most popular word processing software in the world.) This tip (1128) 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: Understanding DATE Field Formatting.

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. ...

MORE FROM ALLEN

Centering a Paragraph with the Keyboard

Need a quick shortcut that you can use to center your paragraph between the margins? The answer is here.

Discover More

Ensuring Standard Units During Data Entry

Need to make sure that information entered in a worksheet is always in a given unit of measurement? It's not as easy of a ...

Discover More

Placing Textbox Text Into a Worksheet

Want to get rid of your text boxes and move their text into the worksheet? It's going to take a macro-based approach, ...

Discover More

Learning Made Easy! Quickly teach yourself how to format, publish, and share your content using Word 2021 or Microsoft 365. With Step by Step, you set the pace, building and practicing the skills you need, just when you need them! Check out Microsoft Word Step by Step today!

More WordTips (menu)

Understanding the ADVANCE Field

You can use the Advance field to change where text is positioned in your document. This tip shows how to use it and the ...

Discover More

Field in Footer Won't Update

Word provides a handy shortcut that allows you to update the fields in any text you've selected. When you select your ...

Discover More

Keeping Fields and Text Together

You can use fields for a wide variety of purposes in your documents. If you want to make sure that a field and the text ...

Discover More
Subscribe

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.

What is eight more than 9?

2018-04-16 07:46:51

Andrew

Great help. Thx!!


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.

Videos
Subscribe

FREE SERVICE: Get tips like this every week in WordTips, a free productivity newsletter. Enter your address and click "Subscribe."

(Your e-mail address is not shared with anyone, ever.)

View the most recent newsletter.