Document Assembly > Editing a date format in Word

Editing a date format in Word

To change the date format in Word:

Select the date field.
Press [Alt] + F9 to reveal the field coding or, right-click on the field and choose the Toggle Field Code option.

Edit the field by inserting the date-time format switch \@ to the end of the field. Then add the desired expressions for the day, month, and year in double-quotes.

Switch	Description
yyyy	Year. Use yy to display the last two digits of any year. Use yyyy to display all four digits of any year.
M	Month. Use MMMM to fully spell out the month. (e.g., September, October). Use MMM to display the three-letter abbreviation for the month (e.g. Sep, Oct). Use MM to display the month in two digits with a leading zero for single-digit months (e.g., 09,10). Use M to display the month in digits (e.g., 9, 10).
d	Day. Use dddd to spell out the day of the week (e.g. Sunday, Monday). Use ddd to display the three letter abbreviation of the day (e.g. Sun, Mon). Use dd to display the day in two digits with a leading zero for single digit days (e.g. 09,10). Use d to display the day in digits (such as 9, 10).

Note: The switch components can be arranged in different orders, but "M" must be in upper case for months as the lower case "m" is used for minutes.

Press [Alt] + F9 again.
Position the cursor anywhere in the date field and press the [F9] function key to update it or, right-click the test field and choose Update Field.

Date Formatting Examples

Field Code	Displayed Results
{MERGEFIELD Date \@"dddd,MMMM d, yyyy"}	Thursday, February 3, 2022
{MERGEFIELD Date \@"MM/dd/yyyyy"}	02/03/2022
{MERGEFIELD Date \@"M-d-yy"}	2-3-22
{MERGEFIELD Date \@"MMMM d, yyyyy"}	February 3, 2022