From James Marshall,
Your Guide to Word Processing.
FREE Newsletter. Sign Up Now!

If you frequently send out copies of a letter and want to make sure the date on the letter is always current, you can insert the date as a field that will update automatically every time you open the document. This can be particularly helpful when used in conjunction with templates or mail merge documents, as you never have to worry that the date is incorrect or spend time entering the date.

To insert a date field in your document, follow these steps:

1. Postion the cursor where you would like to place the field
2. From the Insert menu, select Field…
3. In the Field dialog box, select Date in the Field names: scroll box
4. In the Date formats: box, select the date format that best suits the context of your document
5. Click OK

The date field will be inserted in your document in the format you selected. Each time you open the document or use the F9 key to update fields, the date will be updated.