Current Date field in Mail Merge templates?

Faith Murray

Pretty sure the answer to this is "no", but maybe I'm just missing it! Suggestions, anyone?


We've always used the Export function for Mail -- Acknowledgement letters, and then manually merged straight out of Word from a csv file. Now I'm looking to set up a Conditional Mail Merge to handle the same process. However, our thank-you letters, which we print daily, have always included tomorrow's date at the top of the formal letter. Is there a way to include "tomorrow's date" at the top of the merge template in RE without having to manually enter and edit each letter type before merging?


I suppose, failing this, one could simply enter the words "Current Date" and use a Find and Replace after the merge was complete...

JoAnn Strommen

 I've not found a way - maybe someone else has.  I've always just used find/replace.

Steve Sandie

Hello, all !  


We can insert today's date into a Word merge template and automatically update it so it always shows the current date.  This Knowledgebase article is a good resource for this:  https://kb.blackbaud.com/articles/Article/40161

JoAnn Strommen

Yes, but if I'm printing letters today for CEO to sign when he returns tomorrow and we want tomorrow's date, it doesn't solve what F Murray or I want.  Always has to be manually updated after merge.  It's on my list of 'what I wish for...'

Steve Sandie

I'm sorry I misunderstood what you were trying to accomplish. Yes, this is a limitation of Microsoft Word's Insert > Date & Time feature.  I was able to find a potential workaround for adding tomorrow's date on Microsoft's support site. This may be a good resource:  
https://social.technet.microsoft.com/Forums/office/en-US/a0a3f252-b3e9-4888-9686-fd56df21fa5f/calculate-a-future-date-in-word-2010?forum=word

Jill Freidmutter

I have been able to insert "today's date" into a simple mail merge in RE, which changes as the date does. For example, if I merge the letters today and print them in the morning, the date will be tomorrow. In a CONDITIONAL mail merge, it doesn't work that way. In a conditional mail merge, even if the template letter has a date formula, the mail merge will print the static date. When we create letters in RE with a conditional mail merge, we take the Word results, and use find/replace to change the wrong date with the right date. (After trying several different ways to "fix" this, I contacted RE support, and they agreed that this is a problem with conditional mail merge. They blamed it on Microsoft.) 

Faith Murray

Jill Freidmutter:
After trying several different ways to "fix" this, I contacted RE support, and they agreed that this is a problem with conditional mail merge. They blamed it on Microsoft. 

LOL. Yet it works on the simple merges?


Yes, like JoAnn, our CEO wants the letters dated for the date he signs them - which is always tomorrow. I could push for trying to automate the process more and use today's date instead, but it only takes thirty seconds to use Find&Replace after all, so if it makes the boss happy...


Still handy to know about the Word Date & Time feature, even if I can't use it here. That was still new to me.