Using a custom date format in Word

**peterg** · 2011-01-04 12:10

I want to use a (slightly) non-standard long date format in Word 2010. I recall that there are two places that you have to have a setting, the first in (Win 7) Control Panel in Clock/Language/Region, where I have it exactly the way I want it, and I thought, but can't seem to find it, that the other was in Word File Options. This is a time-consuming hunt, and I would welcome a reminder of how to get it 'the easy way'.

**macropod** · 2011-01-04 15:09

Hi Peter,

Perhaps you're thinking of the 'default' you can set via Insert|Date & Time?

**peterg** · 2011-01-04 17:43

Originally Posted by macropod

Hi Peter,

Perhaps you're thinking of the 'default' you can set via Insert|Date & Time?

That is exactly what I want, but the format I want does not appear in the list from which I can select a format to be the default. I did, however, successfully set it as the default long date for Windows. (What I want is DDDD MMMM d, yyyy,)

**handcuff36** · 2011-01-06 12:18

Peter, greets.

I had this stump too as I wanted the french format. I had to change from the English US to the English Canada. That did it.

Be good.........Jean.

**peterg** · 2011-01-06 13:49

Originally Posted by Jean Parrot

Peter, greets.

I had this stump too as I wanted the french format. I had to change from the English US to the English Canada. That did it.

Be good.........Jean.

Thanks for the suggestion. I had already tried assorted combinations including this before posting, but you did make me hit myself on the head and realize that I have other computers running 2010 under Win 7, and all I have to do is search the many settings to match this computer with a 'known good' configuration on one of those until I get it right. What I hope to do while I am at it is learn what all those other settings do, some of which may prove to be extremely powerful for my purposes. On the other hand I might just use field codes to see if using it will add it to the list of selectable formats.

**peterg** · 2011-01-08 09:44

I think I am close, but I could use some help. I found an excellent tutorial from an online source, but it appears that they have a security problem that set off alarms. I received a suspicious email after that, and I have been running virus scans ever since. I won't give you the source because of that, but the idea for this isn't my own.

In order to do this you will need to have your Developer tab installed. In the Controls section of the tab you will find the Date Picker Control in the lower left corner, and if you use it to insert a date and then go to the right-hand portion of the Controls section and click on Properties, you will find that you can set date display properties in that. You can change other settings by right-clicking the date itself. My problem is that I don't know how to save it to make it available in Word, especially for Insert Date & Time.

I should explain the non-standard date itself. I avoid short-form dates like the plague, since there is no universal standard, and my most frequent need for a date is for the date in a letter, dates in headers or footers, or a date on a document. All of these are standalone dates and not part of a sentence, and for this purpose I consider two commas to be one too many. If the date is in a sentence, then two commas are appropriate and I can switch to that as needed.

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