Date Tags

[Glossographia]

I have my system set up to New Zealand region. However, whenever I type a
date, there is a problem with tags that appear. For example, if I type
29 January 2009
a tag appears saying "2009-1-29, press Enter to insert"
Now, in New Zealand, no-one EVER uses a date in the form 2009-1-29, so this
tag is pointless. However, since it's the end of a line, I automatically
press Enter to move to the next line, and get this stupid date inserted! How
can I get rid of it?

 

[Gordon Bentley-Mix]

Agreed that this tag (technically called an "AutoComplete suggestion") is
totally pointless - and not just in GodZone, as I doubt anyone anywhere uses
that format with any regularity. I'm not even sure where this format is
coming from; it's certainly not one of the standard date formats that you
can control through the Regional Settings in the Control Panel...

However, I'm not sure that there's any way to turn this off for dates only.
What you _can_ do is click Insert | AutoText -> AutoText and clear the "Show
AutoComplete suggestions" checkbox. Unfortunately, this turns off *all*
AutoComplete suggestions, including useful ones like typing "Janu" and
pressing Enter to insert "January".

About the only thing I can think of is pressing Esc prior to pressing Enter.
This will dismiss the AutoComplete suggestion so the "stupid date" isn't
inserted. Of course, this interrupts the flow of your typing, but it's
certainly better than having to undo what you really didn't want done in the
first place. And BTW, if you do happen to invoke an AutoComplete suggestion
unintentionally, you can always press Ctrl+Z to fix it.
--
Cheers!

Gordon Bentley-Mix
Word MVP (and fellow Kiwi)

Uninvited email contact will be marked as SPAM and ignored. Please post all
follow-ups to the newsgroup.

 

[Glossographia]

Great ideas, thanks. That has bugged me for years!

 

[grammatim]

Why are you pressing Enter at the end of a line? Let the comuter wrap
it!

"Year-month-day" is a perfectly normal sequence to appear in, say, all
sorts of computer applications; but my Word certainly never offers me
that option when I type a date. (If I'm dating a document, I'll go to
the Insert menu, where I can choose the date with the format
appropriate for the document.)

 

[Gordon Bentley-Mix]

Word certainly never offers me

that option when I type a date.

Must be an NZ thing because every computer I've ever used NZ-localised Word
2003 on does it...

I'll go to
the Insert menu, where I can choose the date with the format
appropriate for the document.

Some of us don't mind typing the date - especially if it means that we don't
have to take our hands off the keyboard. (Although I note that,
interestingly enough, "yyyy-mm-dd" is actually one of the offered formats in
the Date and Time dialog box...) And sometimes the AutoComplete suggestions
make it even easier.

If I'm dating a document

Why are you pressing Enter at the end of a line? Let the com[p]uter wrap
it!

Now you're just being silly... ;-P

All seriousness aside, I think I see now why this format is offered as an
AutoComplete suggestion: it's apparently one of the "standard" formats for
NZ-localised Word - as is evidenced by its presence in the Date and Time
dialog box. It's also offered if the Language is set to Australian or UK
English as well. Unfortunately, I don't have a US-localised machine to use
for comparison. Even so I still have no idea why it's there or the slightest
clue about how to make it go away. Must be in the guts of Word somewhere
where we mere mortals can't get to it.
--
Cheers!

Gordon Bentley-Mix
Word MVP

Uninvited email contact will be marked as SPAM and ignored. Please post all
follow-ups to the newsgroup.

 

[grammatim]

It's the fifth of the nine Date & Time options in the Insert menu (in
Word2007 US). (And since D & T is in the ribbon, you can very easily
put it in the QAT, meaning you can assign it a keyboard shortcut.)

Word certainly never offers me
that option when I type a date.

Must be an NZ thing because every computer I've ever used NZ-localised Word
2003 on does it...

I'll go to
the Insert menu, where I can choose the date with the format
appropriate for the document.

Some of us don't mind typing the date - especially if it means that we don't
have to take our hands off the keyboard. (Although I note that,
interestingly enough, "yyyy-mm-dd" is actually one of the offered formatsin
the Date and Time dialog box...) And sometimes the AutoComplete suggestions
make it even easier.

If I'm dating a document

Why are you pressing Enter at the end of a line? Let the com[p]uter wrap
it!

Now you're just being silly... ;-P

All seriousness aside, I think I see now why this format is offered as an
AutoComplete suggestion: it's apparently one of the "standard" formats for
NZ-localised Word - as is evidenced by its presence in the Date and Time
dialog box. It's also offered if the Language is set to Australian or UK
English as well. Unfortunately, I don't have a US-localised machine to use
for comparison. Even so I still have no idea why it's there or the slightest
clue about how to make it go away. Must be in the guts of Word somewhere
where we mere mortals can't get to it.
--
Cheers!

Gordon Bentley-Mix
Word MVP

Uninvited email contact will be marked as SPAM and ignored. Please post all
follow-ups to the newsgroup.

Why are you pressing Enter at the end of a line? Let the comuter wrap
it!

"Year-month-day" is a perfectly normal sequence to appear in, say, all
sorts of computer applications; but my Word certainly never offers me
that option when I type a date. (If I'm dating a document, I'll go to
the Insert menu, where I can choose the date with the format
appropriate for the document.)

 

[Gordon Bentley-Mix]

All well and good if you're using 2007, but some of us - especially those who
work for large, slow moving corporates in remote parts of the world or are
too poor to afford NZ$350+ for a single-user license - are stuck with 2003
for the foreseeable future...
--
Cheers!

Gordon Bentley-Mix
Word MVP

Uninvited email contact will be marked as SPAM and ignored. Please post all
follow-ups to the newsgroup.