Forum Discussion
Date-Time Stamp for each journal entry to work activities
Greetings, I need to date-time start each journal entry for work purposes. I need to use the same word doc ,and each day, date-time stamp before journaling to describe the work that I am doing that day. However, I tried doing this, and whenever I date-time stamp using the "insert > time and date", all the previous stamps update to that day's date-time. So, I wanted to ask you guys if I am doing something wrong, if there is a better way to do this, or a better Microsoft 365 app to do this... or even, other ways outside Microsoft 365. As I mentioned, this is to maintain a record of productivity so I can explain in the future (if asked), what I did and the reasoning process. Thank you for any hep with this! I appreciate it! 🙂
If you don’t want to use macros, you can use the insert feature to add the date/time as text. In the Date & Time pop-up there is an “Update automatically” check box. If checked, you’ll get a field which as you’ve discovered, will update to the current time. If unchecked, you’ll get ordinary text which will not update.
- Oh... I see... I will check it out thank you... I did not find this info anywhere... this could be useful. Thanks much! 🙂
Hi Andrea,
As is pointed out by cwb3106 below, if you uncheck the Automatically Update in the dialog, you get ordinary, non-updating, text.
Otherwise, what you are inserting is a field, and no Word field will do what you want because they are intended to be dynamic. That is, the content changes depending on certain things.
See my page: Using Date Fields in Microsoft Word
You can use a macro to do this, though.
Take a look at my Date Stamp (Text) Shortcuts Add-In which may do what you need. It has macros for the following formats with keyboard shortcuts (and is free).
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The template has installation and use instructions. It also has a QAT button for the fourth macro, the one with the date and time. These insert as text, rather than as a field so will not change automatically.
If you do not want to use it, you can still copy a macro from it for your own use.
Otherwise, if you have inserted a field by mistake, you can click in it and "unlink" it so that it is text and no longer a field. There are two shortcuts for that on the Mac: Cmd+6 or Cmd+Shift+F11. Dealing with Fields in Microsoft Word
Here is the macro for that one, in case you want to enter it yourself.
Sub InsertDateT() ' ' Inserts date, long form, European format with time MMMM d, yyyy HH:mm ' Keyboard Shortcut, Alt+Shift+D, T ' HansVogelar and Charles Ke5nyon ' Selection.TypeText Format(Now, "dddd, d MMMM yyyy - H:mm am/pm") End SubYou can assign a keyboard shortcut or QAT icon to any macro.
References:
- Hey there, thank for the reply everybody. I appreciate it!!! However, I have a mac... these shortcuts look like for windows... Yesterday, I was browsing online for answers when I came across the info that Microsoft's OneNote does exactly that... it can date-time stamp each entry, although one could delete it... So, since I am not a techie person, it would be a simple way to go about it. Not a perfect solution though.... Anyway, until I find another better solution, this should do for now. Thank you again! Have a great one!
The macros will work on a Mac as well. So will the Add-In.
Here is a Mac article on installing macros from a forum with a Mac.
https://wordmvp.com/Mac/InstallMacro.htmlDate fields also work the same on the Mac version.
You can actually do this without any coding if you use Windows and a text file. There's the .LOG method.
I made a short video about this since I ended up using this method so much myself.
Video: https://youtu.be/FNQQGbPSMCU
Interesting video but it does require using a text file rather than a Word document.
