Change Date Content Control to UK format

[Mary Ann]

I have inserted a Cover Page (Insert tab, Pages group) and used the Date
content control. It shows in the American format i.e. mm/dd/yyyy. How can I
change this to be the UK format?
Also, is it a date which automatically updates, or is static? If it
automatically updates, how do I change that setting?

 

[Suzanne S. Barnhill]

The formatting of date fields in Word is generally dependent on your Windows
default settings for date format.

 

[Mary Ann]

Thanks for your reply Suzanne.

The Control Panel, Regional and Language options, are set to United Kingdom
and the date shows there in the format I want i.e. 19/09/2008. My automatic
date fields appear elsewhere in the UK format e.g. in Excel or when I use the
Insert, Date and Time in Word. It’s only these controls on the Cover Pages
that I’ve found use the US format.

Do you have any further thoughts?

 

[Peter Jamieson]

I suggest you do this:
a. click the Developer tab. if you do not see it, check Office Button->Word
Options->Popular->Show Developer tab in the Ribbon
b. click Design Mode in the "Controls" group
c. Right-click the date control, click Properties, and set the format you
want.
d. click Design mode again

If you're going to be using this cover page a lot, it's probably worth
saving the modified version as a Quick Part, separate document or whatever.

 

[Suzanne S. Barnhill]

According to Cindy, you may need to change the language at the insertion
point to English (U.K.).

 

[Mary Ann]

Thanks Suzanne. I tried this – had to select the whole row to get the
language to change. But the date format remained unaltered. Am I doing
something wrong?

 

[Mary Ann]

Thank you for this. and your step by step instructions. I did get it to work
– but a bit long-winded unless you are saving the cover page as you suggest.

 

[Peter Jamieson]

– but a bit long-winded

I agree, but I think it's the only way to do it.