Share via

How can he Last Printed date in properties be before the Creation Date property in Word?

Anonymous
2020-06-09T21:44:49+00:00

I need to understand the reason why a Last Printed date in the properties of a Word document is before the date it was created. below is a screenshot showing the creation date of a document is 6/30/2014 but the "Last Printed" is 2 weeks prior on 6/17/2014. I don't know the version of Office that was used to create the document.

Microsoft 365 and Office | Word | For home | Windows

Locked Question. This question was migrated from the Microsoft Support Community. You can vote on whether it's helpful, but you can't add comments or replies or follow the question.

0 comments

Answer accepted by question author

Paul Edstein 82,861 Reputation points Volunteer Moderator
2020-06-10T08:18:48+00:00

But how come the Last Printed date is before the date it was created and/or last saved?

If you print a document, the PrintDate property will be set to that date. If you later save the document via Save As, the CreateDate property will be re-set to that later date, in which case the date held in the CreateDate property will be more recent than the date held in the PrintDate property.

Was this answer helpful?

10+ people found this answer helpful.
0 comments

7 additional answers

Sort by: Most helpful
Most helpful Newest Oldest
  1. Paul Edstein 82,861 Reputation points Volunteer Moderator
    2020-06-22T23:27:31+00:00

    That is not what I said.

    The date last printed is the date the document was last printed. Nothing more, nothing less. It has no particular relationship with either the date created or the date last saved; it could be the same as either, or earlier than either; it could be after the date created (as the result of a Save As), but cannot be after the date last saved (unless someone has messed around with the system clock after printing, then re-saving).

    Was this answer helpful?

    3 people found this answer helpful.
    0 comments
  2. Doug Robbins - MVP - Office Apps and Services 323.1K Reputation points MVP Volunteer Moderator
    2020-06-10T07:26:39+00:00

    That's correct, the "Last Printed" date refers to the last time the content of the document was printed, regardless of what has happened to it since that time such as being forwarded via email and then being saved to the recipients computer.

    Was this answer helpful?

    2 people found this answer helpful.
    0 comments
  3. Anonymous
    2020-06-10T01:48:17+00:00

    Thanks Doug. 

    But how come the Last Printed date is before the date it was created and/or last saved?

    Could it be that the "Last Printed" was an original file and a copy of it was downloaded on a different page or forwarded via e-mail, thus the last printed was 6/17, then the downloaded or forwarded file become "created" on whatever date it was downloaded/forwarded and saved?

    Was this answer helpful?

    0 comments
  4. Doug Robbins - MVP - Office Apps and Services 323.1K Reputation points MVP Volunteer Moderator
    2020-06-09T22:57:02+00:00

    If you change the name of a file by using File>Save As, the content created date will become the date on which the document was saved with that name.   However, that will not wipe out the date on which the original document was printed.

    There are probably other means by which the Content Created date may be changed without affecting the Last printed date.

    Was this answer helpful?

    0 comments