When using a field to automatically add the date to a Word template or stationery, there are two different ways to add this.
- Office Date field.
Using the Date field will add 'today's date' when the document is created from the template/stationery, but it will reset the date to the current date whenever the document is opened or downloaded. - FYI CreatedDate Merge Field.
Using the FYI CreatedDate Merge Field, adds the current 'today's date' when a document created from the template/stationery and this original creation date is retained whenever the document is opened or downloaded.
For details on how to add each of these, refer to Including Merge Fields in Word Templates and Stationery.
Formatting a Date Merge Field
You can add a switch to the Merge Field to format the date. This allows you to set it to display, for example, as 5 Feb 2021, as 5 February 2021, Friday, 5 February 2021, etc.
For details on how to change the format of the date, for example, refer to Formatting the CreatedDate Merge Field in Including Merge Fields in Word Templates and Stationery.
Microsoft Office Date being reset when used in existing Templates and Stationery
They was a change made by Microsoft to the way that the Office Date field works. This used to work in the same way as the FYI CreatedDate Merge Field. But this was changed by Microsoft so that it now resets the date to the current date whenever the document is opened or downloaded.
If you have already set up templates and stationery using the Office Date field and you do not want dates to reset to the current date, you will need to edit your templates and stationery and change this field to the FYI CreatedDate Merge Field. Refer also to Updating Merge Fields in Including Merge Fields in Word Templates and Stationery.