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Why is Word automatically changing date?

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by maxwell edison

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Greetings,

One of my users has a Word 97 document - a single document - consisting of a dozen or more pages. There is one business letter typed on each page, and each of those letters is dated differently. So this document was created using a dozen or more "different" dates throughout.

Some of these dates - BUT NOT ALL - are changing to the current date "automatically".
They were not (intentionally) created to auto-update.

The "update automatically" box IS NOT checked in the Date andTime dialogue box (found under the Insert menu).

My question is this:

What are ALL the possible ways that the date could be instructed - either intentionally or unintentionally - to automatically update?

Some particulars:

This document is saved on a local drive without file sharing.

User templates are stored on a networked drive.

A template WAS NOT used to create this particular document.

Within the Normal.dot template, the "update automatically" box IS NOT checked in theDate and Time dialogue box.

Whether or not your answer contains the reason for this particular circumstance, I'll share the points between ALL original answers that have some merit.

Regards,

Maxwell

5 replies

by dklippert

In order for the date to auto magically change; it has to be a field. Go to Tools>Options and on the View tab make sure that Field shading: says either When selected/or Always.
Highlight the offending date. It should turn gray. If you want to see the field, drag across it and hit Alt+F9 to toggle the field view. You can lock a field to prevent changes by selecting it (or the whole document) and hitting CTRL+F11. To unlock it use CTRL+SHIFT+F11.
If you would like to permanently unlink the fields, select each one (or the whole document) and hit CTRL+SHIFT+F9.
How the fields got into the document is a question the user must ask themselves. They are not inserted any other way than by choice or accident.

by maxwell edison

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Thanks for taking the time to answer my question. It appears that you've hit the nail on the head. The only thing I need to do now is to figure out how my user did this when she "claims" that she entered everything the same way. (I suspected that she created some of these entries in Excel and imported them. But she denies it.)

Regards,

Maxwell

by lo

Post #1 is on the right track. Might consider 'what are the dates supposed to be' before you do that. If you want the create date of the document, you can get that with a field and it will only change if/when the document is saved (not sure if there is a 'original create date'). If you want other dates (today, printed, etc.) there are fields that will give you that and they update automatically. If you want a date that is user maintained for the last time they updated (or made changes, reguardless of saving), you can put such a date in the document, bookmark then reference.

It sounds like the document was either created/edited by multiple users or by someone that did some copy/paste and some insert editing (why some do and some don't).

Again, what are the dates supposed to be? Once that is determined, you are on the right track as to allowing them to update (and how) or to prevent them from updating (and how).

by maxwell edison

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Thanks for taking the time to elaborate on the first answer. The additional comments did indeed help me understand the whole process.

Regards,

Maxwell

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