Stop automatic date update!

Users frequently complain that dates they have inserted into Word documents update automatically when the document is opened. The reason is that they have inserted a DATE field which shows the system date. What is needed is change those date fields for CREATEDATE fields, which when updated will display the dates the documents were created -

ALT+F9 change { DATE } to { CREATEDATE \@ "d MMMM yyyy" } then F9 and ALT+F9 - and change the date in the template so that future documents based on it show the correct dates. The first of the macro listings below will change any DATE field in an open document or template to a CREATEDATE field. The switches \@ "d MMMM yyyy" may be different at your location.

However you may now have a folder full of documents containing DATE fields and may wish to process them all in a batch. The second macro uses the code from the first macro and applies it to all the files in a chosen folder.

Sub FixDates()
Dim sSwitch As String
Dim iFld As Integer

'Set the required date switch - note the quotes
sSwitch = " \@ ""d MMMM yyyy"""

'Check each field in the document
For iFld = ActiveDocument.Fields.Count To 1 Step -1
     With ActiveDocument.Fields(iFld)
          Select Case .Type

          'The field is a Date field
          Case Is = wdFieldDate

               'Change it to a Createdate field
               .Code.Text = Replace(UCase(.Code.Text), _
                   "DATE", "CREATEDATE")

               'If there is no date switch - add one
               If InStr(1, .Code, "\@") = 0 Then
                    .Code.Text = .Code.Text & sSwitch
               End If
               .Update

          Case Else
          End Select
     End With
Next iFld
End Sub
 

Sub BatchFixDates()
Dim strFile As String
Dim strPath As String
Dim sSwitch As String
Dim strDoc As Document
Dim iFld As Integer
Dim fDialog As FileDialog

'Set the required date switch - note the quotes
sSwitch = " \@ ""d MMMM yyyy"""
Set fDialog = Application.FileDialog(msoFileDialogFolderPicker)

'Get the folder containing the documents
With fDialog
     .title = "Select folder containing the documents to be processed and click OK"
     .AllowMultiSelect = False
     .InitialView = msoFileDialogViewList
     If .Show <> -1 Then
          MsgBox "Cancelled By User", , "List Folder Contents"
          Exit Sub
     End If
     strPath = fDialog.SelectedItems.Item(1)
     If Right(strPath, 1) <> "\" Then strPath = strPath + "\"
End With

'If there are any open documents, close them (prompting to save changes)
If Documents.Count > 0 Then
     Documents.Close SaveChanges:=wdPromptToSaveChanges
End If
strFile = Dir$(strPath & "*.doc")

'Open each document in the folder
While strFile <> ""
     Set strDoc = Documents.Open(strPath & strFile)

     'Check each field in the document
     For iFld = ActiveDocument.Fields.Count To 1 Step -1
          With ActiveDocument.Fields(iFld)
               'The field is a Date field

               Select Case .Type
               Case Is = wdFieldDate

                    'Change it to a Createdate field
                    .Code.Text = Replace(UCase(.Code.Text), _
                        "DATE", "CREATEDATE")

                    'If there is no date switch - add one
                    If InStr(1, .Code, "\@") = 0 Then
                         .Code.Text = .Code.Text & sSwitch
                    End If
                    .Update
               Case Else
               End Select
          End With
     Next iFld

     'Save the changes
     strDoc.Close SaveChanges:=wdSaveChanges
     strFile = Dir$()
Wend
End Sub