Date Picker Content Control in Word document table cell

Question

Dale Webb 15

Want to force date entries to be consistent by adding a control content 'field' in a Word doc table cell.

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All my attempts have failed. Can someone tell me how to do it? AI didn't work out.

0 comments

1 answer

Answer 1

Charles Kenyon 171.9K Volunteer Moderator

Jargon alert: A Content Control is not a field, in Word. These are different things.

You want a date like 8November2026?

What are you getting instead?

Try dMMMMyyyy.

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For more on date and time formats, see my page on Date Fields: https://addbalance.com/word/datefields1.htm#PageStart

Dale Webb 15 Reputation points

2026-11-08T18:38:44.46+00:00

The way the DATE control is meant to be used is to allow/require the user to enter the date but force all dates into a common form: 01Nov2026. Not meant to be an 'automatic' date entry. The control is in a PRIMITIVE database to keep track of household items, information.

All I really need the date control to do is force a common constant date entry from each date field.

Thanks,
Stefan Blom 357.3K Reputation points MVP Volunteer Moderator

2026-11-08T18:47:53.39+00:00

If you specify a date format, as Charles suggested, Word will convert to that format. This applies no matter if you select a format or if you type a date. The conversion to the specified format is made after you click outside the date picker content control.