MS Word Change Date Format

Question

Using the latest version of Word, I received a document in which it is all text, ie: no fields. Is there a way that I can find all text in the format dd/mm/yyyy, tell Word this is a date in that format and then have it converted to dd MMM yyyy and still retain it as raw text. In essence, I would like to change text that looks like a date and change that text to another date format. Thanks.

Answer 1

You can do it with a macro containing the following code

Dim strDay As String, strMonth As String, strYear As String, strMonthText As String

Selection.HomeKey wdStory

With Selection.Find

Do While .Execute(FindText:="[0-9]{2}\/[0-9]{2}\/[0-9]{4}", Forward:=True, \_ 

MatchWildcards:=True, Wrap:=wdFindStop, MatchCase:=True) = True 

    strDay = Left(Selection, 2) 

    strMonth = Mid(Selection, 4, 2) 

    strYear = Right(Selection, 4) 

    Select Case strMonth 

        Case "01" 

            strMonthText = " January " 

        Case "02" 

            strMonthText = " February " 

        Case "03" 

            strMonthText = " March " 

        Case "04" 

            strMonthText = " April " 

        Case "05" 

            strMonthText = " May " 

        Case "06" 

            strMonthText = " June " 

        Case "07" 

            strMonthText = " July " 

        Case "08" 

            strMonthText = " August " 

        Case "09" 

            strMonthText = " September " 

        Case "10" 

            strMonthText = " October " 

        Case "11" 

            strMonthText = " November " 

        Case "12" 

            strMonthText = " December " 

    End Select 

    Selection.Text = strDay & strMonthText & strYear 

    Selection.Collapse wdCollapseEnd 

Loop 

End With

Answer 2

You can use the following macro, with some caution. (See https://www.gmayor.com/installing_macro.htm if needed.)

Sub ReformatDates() 

    Dim rng As Range 

    Dim bFormatErr As Boolean 

    Set rng = ActiveDocument.Range 

    With rng.Find 

        .MatchWildcards = True 

        .Text = "[0-9]{1,2}/[0-9]{1,2}/[0-9]{4}" 

        .Wrap = wdFindStop 

        While .Execute 

            If IsDate(rng.Text) Then 

                rng.Text = Format(rng.Text, "dd mmm yyyy") 

            Else 

                rng.HighlightColorIndex = wdBrightGreen 

                bFormatErr = True 

            End If 

            rng.Collapse wdCollapseEnd 

            DoEvents 

        Wend 

        If bFormatErr Then 

            MsgBox "At least one date is not valid, highlighted in green.", vbExclamation 

        End If 

    End With 

End Sub 

The caution is that the Format function operates correctly when the day number is 12 or less only if the Windows regional setting for short dates is set to dd/mm/yyyy [for example, English (United Kingdom) or English (Canada)]. However, if the setting is mm/dd/yyyy as in English (United States), the result will mistakenly appear with the intended day number converted to a month and the intended month number converted to a day. That is, the text 8/4/2023 would be replaced with 08 Apr 2023 for the Canadian setting, but 04 Aug 2023 for the US setting.

[Edit: I didn't see Doug's post until after I finished mine. His method avoids the concern about the Format function.]

Answer 3

In the latest version of Word, if you have received a document that consists only of text without any fields, you can follow these steps to find all the text in the format dd/mm/yyyy, inform Word that it is a date in that format, and then convert it to the format dd MMM yyyy while still retaining it as raw text.

Please follow these steps:

1. Open your Word document.
2. Select the "Home" tab from the top menu bar.
3. In the "Editing" group, click on "Find".
4. In the pop-up Find dialog box, click on the "Replace" tab.
5. In the "Find what" text box, enter the original format of the date, i.e., dd/mm/yyyy.
6. In the "Replace with" text box, enter the new date format you desire, i.e., dd MMM yyyy.
7. Click on the "Replace All" button, and Word will find all the matching text and replace it.

Please note that this replacement will change the text format to the new date format while still keeping it as raw text. This means you can continue editing these date texts as needed without converting them into date fields.

I hope this answer is helpful to you! If you have any further questions, feel free to ask.

Answer 4

Just one nit to pick...

To get the dd MMM yyyy format, change the text to the three-character abbreviations for the months.

Answer 5

@好骥杨

That will not do anything.