Creating a Calendar Tool

Written by Allen Wyatt (last updated December 2, 2023)
This tip applies to Word 97, 2000, 2002, and 2003

Lydia asked if there was a way to add a calendar tool to Word, so that she could scroll through a calendar and select a date that she wanted to insert into her document. Unfortunately, there is no such capability in Word; the closest you can come is to add a calendar object to your document. Follow these steps if you are using a version of Word prior to Word 2007. (The Calendar Control is not available in Word 2007.)

Position the insertion point where you wan the calendar to appear in your document.
Display the New tab of the Object dialog box. (Choose Object from the Insert menu.)
In the list of available objects, choose Calendar Control.
Word inserts a calendar into your document, and the Control Toolbox appears. (See Figure 1.)

Figure 1. The Calendar Control.

With the calendar object in place, you can format it as you would any other object: right-click on it and choose Format Control. The various tabs in the resulting dialog box contain different settings that specify how the calendar should appear and behave in the document.

When your calendar appears as you want it to, click the Exit Design Mode tool on the Control Toolbox. (The tool is the one in the upper-left corner of the toolbox.) The calendar is now "active," and you can select any date in it that you wish. The control is actually part of the document, much as an inserted picture would be part of the document. You cannot use the calendar control to insert dates (without doing some macro programming), but you can use it to provide a reference for any date between 1900 and 2100.

WordTips is your source for cost-effective Microsoft Word training. (Microsoft Word is the most popular word processing software in the world.) This tip (3919) applies to Microsoft Word 97, 2000, 2002, and 2003.

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

Converting Text to Uppercase in a Macro

Macros are often used to process documents. If part of the processing involves making text selections uppercase, Word ...

Discover More

Making Phone Numbers into Active Links

Want to use phone numbers in your documents and have those numbers be clickable links? This tip discusses all the ins and ...

Discover More

Understanding Relative and Absolute Addressing

In Excel you can reference a cell in a formula by entering the coordinates for the cell you want to reference. This can ...

Discover More

Do More in Less Time! Are you ready to harness the full power of Word 2013 to create professional documents? In this comprehensive guide you'll learn the skills and techniques for efficiently building the documents you need for your professional and your personal life. Check out Word 2013 In Depth today!

More WordTips (menu)

Reducing Word's CPU Load

A series of options for checking the CPU load of your Word document.

Discover More

Word's Native Measurement Unit

Word allows you to specify distances using a number of different measurement units. Figuring out how those measurement ...

Discover More

Word Abnormally Ends when Maximizing Program Window

If Word crashes when you maximize a previously minimized instance of the program, it is a sure sign that there is ...

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 eight less than 8?

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.