Tech Tip #17: Don’t Know the Date? No Problem

As a working technology teacher, I get hundreds of questions from parents about their home computers, how to do stuff, how to solve problems. Each Tuesday, I’ll share one of those with you. They’re always brief and always focused. Enjoy!

Q: I don’t know why, but I never remember the date. Unfortunately, I have to type it often at school/work/home. Is there a shortcut for people like me?

A: Who does remember the date? No problem. Just push Shift+Alt+D. That puts the current date into any Word document (use Ctrl+; in Excel).

Be aware: This shortkey updates the date every time you open the document. For example, you might use it and the date shows as April 21, 2010. When you re-open the same document five days later, it’ll read April 26, 2010. So, if you want the date to memorialize the document, skip the keyboard shortcut.

Questions you want answered? Leave a comment here and I’ll answer it within the next thirty days.


Jacqui Murray has been teaching K-18 technology for 30 years. She is the editor/author of over a hundred tech ed resources including a K-12 technology curriculum, K-8 keyboard curriculum, K-8 Digital Citizenship curriculum. She is an adjunct professor in tech ed, Master Teacher, webmaster for four blogs, an Amazon Vine Voice, CSTA presentation reviewer, freelance journalist on tech ed topics, contributor to NEA Today, and author of the tech thrillers, To Hunt a Sub and Twenty-four Days. You can find her resources at Structured Learning. 

Author: Jacqui
Welcome to my virtual classroom. I've been a tech teacher for 15 years, but modern technology offers more to get my ideas across to students than at any time in my career. Drop in to my class wikis, classroom blog, our internet start pages. I'll answer your questions about how to teach tech, what to teach when, where the best virtual sites are. Need more--let's chat about issues of importance in tech ed. Want to see what I'm doing today? Click the gravatar and select the grade.