Merging dates to hard text Lynne 10/8/2008 6:16:16 AM Hi, I am using mail merge and the 'Date' field. Is there anyway to make the 'Date' field fixed after the merge? I want the date of the merged document to stay fixed when it is reopened. The 'Date' field updates to the current date if the document is repoened. The 'SaveDate' and 'CreateDate' seem to use the date of the template containing the mergefields not the actual merged document. Thanks Lynne

Re: Merging dates to hard text "Graham Mayor" <gmayor[ at ]REMOVETHISmvps.org> 10/8/2008 6:43:30 AM As you report CreateDate shows the date of creation of the merge document but merges to plain text. The simplest solution is to use SaveAs to save the merge document with the same name then update the field. You can do this with a few lines of macro code. Dim fName As String With ActiveDocument fName = .FullName .SaveAs fName .Fields.Update End With http://www.gmayor.com/installing_macro.htm -- <>>< ><<> ><<> <>>< ><<> <>>< <>><<> Graham Mayor - Word MVP My web site www.gmayor.com Word MVP web site http://word.mvps.org <>>< ><<> ><<> <>>< ><<> <>>< <>><<> Lynne wrote: [Quoted Text] > Hi, > > I am using mail merge and the 'Date' field. Is there anyway to make > the 'Date' field fixed after the merge? I want the date of the > merged document to stay fixed when it is reopened. The 'Date' field > updates to the current date if the document is repoened. The > 'SaveDate' and 'CreateDate' seem to use the date of the template > containing the mergefields not the actual merged document. > > Thanks > Lynne

Re: Merging dates to hard text "Peter Jamieson" <pjj[ at ]KillmapSpjjnet.demon.co.uk> 10/8/2008 9:05:25 AM If it's just for you, you can try this if you like - the basis of it is described in http://tips.pjmsn.me.uk/t0004.htm although some of the techniques described in there no longer seem to work in Word 2007, and it will only work if the ODBC text driver is present on your system (you'll find out quite quickly if that is the case) 1. Create a folder called c:\i 2. Create a plain text file, e.g. using Notepad and put the following text in it: [ODBC] DRIVER=Microsoft Text Driver (*.txt; *.csv) FIL=text DriverId=27 DefaultDir=C:\i 3. Save the file as c:\i\i.dsn (its probably easier to save it as c:i\i.txt then rename it) 4. Put the following field in your document: { DATABASE \d "c:\\i\\i.dsn" \c "FILEDSN=c:\\i\\i.dsn" \s "SELECT date()" \[ at ]"DD/MM/YYYY" } The {} need to be the special field codes that you can insert using ctrl-F9. You need a \[ at ] date format "switch" or Word may insert an extra paragraph mark, but specify the date format you need. 5. Select the field and press F9 to update it. If you see today's date, you're in business. 6. Test a merge to a new document. The DATABASE field should be replaced by the date of the merge. I'd make sure you can do the real merges you need before committing to this approach. (Once you have done steps 1 to 3 you shouldn't have to do them again. You can save the DATABASE field as an AutoText (or Quick Part in Word 2007) -- Peter Jamieson http://tips.pjmsn.me.uk "Lynne" <Lynne[ at ]discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message news:FE8DDA3A-6286-48AF-8E8E-1A1EF845D7BE[ at ]microsoft.com... [Quoted Text] > Hi, > > I am using mail merge and the 'Date' field. Is there anyway to make the > 'Date' field fixed after the merge? I want the date of the merged > document > to stay fixed when it is reopened. The 'Date' field updates to the > current > date if the document is repoened. The 'SaveDate' and 'CreateDate' seem to > use > the date of the template containing the mergefields not the actual merged > document. > > Thanks > Lynne