Change Date Format in Document

[Greg Maxey]

There is probably a better way however this method may
work for you.

Edit>Replace
Check More>Use Wild Card
Type 01-([0-9]{2})- in the find what field
Type January \1, in the replace with field. Note, be sure
to type a space after the comma in the replace with field.

This will take care of one month. If your "many" is
enough to make this worth your while, then repeat the
process for the remaining eleven.

 

[Jay Freedman]

Hi, Steve,

The answer is, as usual, "It depends..."

If most or all of the dates in your document are plain text, then Greg's
answer is probably the best you're going to get -- that, or a macro that
does the same series of replacements, just faster.

If the dates in your document are all {DATE} fields instead of plain text,
AND if they don't contain a \@ "...." picture switch, then changing them all
involves two steps:

- Go to the Insert > Date and Time dialog, select the format you want, click
the Default button at the bottom of the dialog, answer yes to the prompt,
and click the Cancel button (you want to change the default, but not insert
a new date field).

- Go to File > Print Preview, and then click the Close button to go back to
the document. This updates all the field-based dates, which should now be in
the desired format.

The third scenario, where the dates are fields but they do contain a picture
switch, can be fixed with a different Find/Replace than Greg's. First press
Alt+F9 to display all the field codes. Type this in the Find box of the
Replace dialog:

\@ "MM-dd-yyyy"

and type this in the Replace box:

\@ "MMMM dd, yyyy"

Click the Replace All button, close the dialog, and press Alt+F9 again to
hide the field codes. Then do the Print Preview to update the fields.

--
Regards,
Jay Freedman
Microsoft Word MVP FAQ: http://www.mvps.org/word

Greg :

So ... there is no way to do a global re-format as you might do in
Excel ?

Steve

There is probably a better way however this method may
work for you.

Edit>Replace
Check More>Use Wild Card
Type 01-([0-9]{2})- in the find what field
Type January \1, in the replace with field. Note, be sure
to type a space after the comma in the replace with field.

This will take care of one month. If your "many" is
enough to make this worth your while, then repeat the
process for the remaining eleven.

-----Original Message-----
I have a documnet with many dates in it. They were formatted to the
mm-dd-yyyy style.

I would like to change the format of all the dates in this document to
mmmmmmm dd, yyyy. How do I do this ?

Steve

.

 

[Greg Maxey]

Jay,

I just got back to this thread. Based on Steve's description of his file I
assumed the dates where plain text. Thanks for providing the alternatives.

--
Greg Maxey
A peer in "peer to peer" support
Rockledge, FL
To e-mail, first edit out the "w...spam" in the displayed address.

Hi, Steve,

The answer is, as usual, "It depends..."

If most or all of the dates in your document are plain text, then
Greg's answer is probably the best you're going to get -- that, or a
macro that does the same series of replacements, just faster.

If the dates in your document are all {DATE} fields instead of plain
text, AND if they don't contain a \@ "...." picture switch, then
changing them all involves two steps:

- Go to the Insert > Date and Time dialog, select the format you
want, click the Default button at the bottom of the dialog, answer
yes to the prompt, and click the Cancel button (you want to change
the default, but not insert a new date field).

- Go to File > Print Preview, and then click the Close button to go
back to the document. This updates all the field-based dates, which
should now be in the desired format.

The third scenario, where the dates are fields but they do contain a
picture switch, can be fixed with a different Find/Replace than
Greg's. First press Alt+F9 to display all the field codes. Type this
in the Find box of the Replace dialog:

\@ "MM-dd-yyyy"

and type this in the Replace box:

\@ "MMMM dd, yyyy"

Click the Replace All button, close the dialog, and press Alt+F9
again to hide the field codes. Then do the Print Preview to update
the fields.

Greg :

So ... there is no way to do a global re-format as you might do in
Excel ?

Steve

There is probably a better way however this method may
work for you.

Edit>Replace
Check More>Use Wild Card
Type 01-([0-9]{2})- in the find what field
Type January \1, in the replace with field. Note, be sure
to type a space after the comma in the replace with field.

This will take care of one month. If your "many" is
enough to make this worth your while, then repeat the
process for the remaining eleven.
-----Original Message-----
I have a documnet with many dates in it. They were
formatted to the
mm-dd-yyyy style.

I would like to change the format of all the dates in
this document to
mmmmmmm dd, yyyy. How do I do this ?

Steve

.

 

[Jay Freedman]

Hi, Steve,

OK, that's a start, but you still have to look at the actual items in
the documents. If you used the dialog but you left the "Update
automatically" box unchecked, the date in the document will be plain
text. If that box was checked, the date will be a field -- but it may
or may not contain a picture switch.

Grab a document, press Alt+F9 to display the field codes, and look at
all of them. That will tell you what you need to do.

Jay - thanks for all the alternative solutions - I should have been more
specific in my question. All the dates in the document were created using the
Insert / Date and Time dialog

Steve

Hi, Steve,

The answer is, as usual, "It depends..."

If most or all of the dates in your document are plain text, then Greg's
answer is probably the best you're going to get -- that, or a macro that
does the same series of replacements, just faster.

If the dates in your document are all {DATE} fields instead of plain text,
AND if they don't contain a \@ "...." picture switch, then changing them all
involves two steps:

- Go to the Insert > Date and Time dialog, select the format you want, click
the Default button at the bottom of the dialog, answer yes to the prompt,
and click the Cancel button (you want to change the default, but not insert
a new date field).

- Go to File > Print Preview, and then click the Close button to go back to
the document. This updates all the field-based dates, which should now be in
the desired format.

The third scenario, where the dates are fields but they do contain a picture
switch, can be fixed with a different Find/Replace than Greg's. First press
Alt+F9 to display all the field codes. Type this in the Find box of the
Replace dialog:

\@ "MM-dd-yyyy"

and type this in the Replace box:

\@ "MMMM dd, yyyy"

Click the Replace All button, close the dialog, and press Alt+F9 again to
hide the field codes. Then do the Print Preview to update the fields.

--
Regards,
Jay Freedman
Microsoft Word MVP FAQ: http://www.mvps.org/word

Greg :

So ... there is no way to do a global re-format as you might do in
Excel ?

Steve

Greg Maxey wrote:

There is probably a better way however this method may
work for you.

Edit>Replace
Check More>Use Wild Card
Type 01-([0-9]{2})- in the find what field
Type January \1, in the replace with field. Note, be sure
to type a space after the comma in the replace with field.

This will take care of one month. If your "many" is
enough to make this worth your while, then repeat the
process for the remaining eleven.
-----Original Message-----
I have a documnet with many dates in it. They were
formatted to the
mm-dd-yyyy style.

I would like to change the format of all the dates in
this document to
mmmmmmm dd, yyyy. How do I do this ?

Steve

.