Date of Creation

[Jon]

My company is in a legal battle and I have an important
question. Is there any way that the "Date of Creation" in
the Word Properties could be wrong? I am referring to the
one in the Summary Tab. Example: If it says June, 24,
2003...is there any possible way the doc could have been
created in May of 2004? Is it pretty much black and
white? Our company attorneys want me to call MS for $250
but I have told them that the Date of Creation is in fact
the Date of Creation. Please help or advise! Thank you!

 

[Greg]

Jon,

Yes there is a possible way.

Let's say I am sitting at my desk today (May of 2004). I
open your document and copy the contents. I then set my
computer date for June 24 2003. After that I open a new
document and paste in the contents of your document. I
save that new document with your document name replacing
the original. This new document was in fact created today
but the "Date of Creation" will display June 24 2004.

Save the $250.00 put don't bet the farm that the document
hasn't been manipulated.

HTH

 

[Guest]

Thank you,
Unfortunately, the litigation involves a Manager
creating a Disciplinary Memo (which was supposed to be
created and distributed)in Feb 2003) but the creation date
is actually showing April 03. The Plaintiff is saying he
never received such a memo until April 03. The Mgr claims
he created the doc in Feb. It looks like the Plaintiff
has a case...darn it. Thanks again! Let me know fo you
can think of anything else.

 

[Greg]

Jon,

Nothing more to offer. Some days you eat the bear ...
some days the bear eats you

 

[Rob Schneider]

Another way it could be wrong is simply if date on the computer where
first created is simply wrong, then the wrong date will be there.

If the case by the Plaintiff is based on dates inside Word document
files, then it's a weak case.

My hunch there is precedence in the courts on how much reliance can be
placed on dates on PC computer files on this issue. I'm guessing you'll
need a lot of other corroborating evidence (secured email logs, secured
mail delivery logs, secured logs from photo copiers, etc.) to prove
anything one way or the other.

Hope this is useful to you. Let us know.

rms

 

[AA]

Unfortunately, the litigation involves a Manager

creating a Disciplinary Memo (which was supposed to be
created and distributed)in Feb 2003) but the creation date
is actually showing April 03. The Plaintiff is saying he
never received such a memo until April 03. The Mgr claims
he created the doc in Feb. It looks like the Plaintiff
has a case...darn it. Thanks again! Let me know fo you
can think of anything else.

What does your company do for backups? Are files saved on a server
which is backed up? Are those backups still available?

If the memo was actually created in Feb 03, and a copy had been backed
up, you'd have an easier time making a case that the file was created
in Feb 03 if those backups are available (and the backups for a few
months before and after are available, and a systems manager who can
testify, and documentation re your backup routines, etc.) It's too
easy to manipulate individual file dates, but much tougher to change
the file dates in a backup volume.

 

[Jezebel]

Apart from the deliberate techniques described by the other posters, the
answer is YES, Word sometimes gets the DateCreated wrong. If you trawl this
and related forums you'll find a number of threads relating to situations
where a document's LastModified date is earlier than its DateCreated (I've
seen this myself). This has nothing to do with playing with the computer's
clock. The sequence of events is something like doing a SaveAs on a copy of
a recovered document.

So, clearly, the DateCreated can be misreported as later than the actual
date of creation. (I doubt *earlier* is possible without deliberate
intervention.)