How To Change Excel's File Original Creation Date?

[Blazin J]

This may be an off-the-wall question, but there is a lot of expertise in this community so I thought I'd ask.

I am wondering how you can change Excel's original file creation date. You can find it by right-clicking on a speadsheet icon then going to:

File - Properties
Custom Tab
Click on Advanced
Look for a field called "Date Created"

Some dates you can edit/change, but I haven't figured out how to change this one yet. I'd like to know because I have a need to change the date on a particular spreadsheet.

 

[Juan Pablo González]

Try saving it with a new name ?

 

[Tom Urtis]

Aside from creating a new file, Excel has no built-in way to do this that I am aware of. Maybe API calls can do it but I don't know what they are.

If you want to change the creation date from what it is now, then you will want to either place the date in the future or in the past.

Let's say the file was created on December 20, 2003. If you want to put the date in the future, for example if that future date is today's date (being "future" from the perspective of the December 20, 2003 date), then select all the sheets in your workbook and copy them (i.e. right click on the sheet and hit Move or Copy > Create a copy > New book). If you have VBA then you'd need to export those modules too. Save that new workbook which would give you a Today date of creation.

If you want a date in the past, then there is a download that can do that. As most people can probably tell by now, I'm not crazy about downloads generally, but this one, called PropertiesPlus, is able to manipulate the Creation date, which VBA is unable to do, so I tried it and it seems to work, if I correctly understand the objective of your post.

Here is the url (it's available elsewhere but here's one place, and it's free):
http://www.pcworld.com/downloads/file_description/0,fid,4979,00.asp

After you click the download link, and after it downloads, go into Explorer and double click it to install it. Then in Explorer, navigate to your file, right click on it, choose the Properties Plus menu option, and change the property(ies) you want to change, the Creation date being among the possibilities.

Hopefully this will get you closer to whatever it is you are trying to accomplish.

 

[Ivan F Moala]

Try this workbook ........

http://www.xcelfiles.com/API_03.html

 

[Chitosunday]

For past date and future date, change first the system date to past date or future date. Then save it in a different filename. If you want delete the original file and rename the new file to original name

 

[Blazin J]

Everyone, thanks for your tips and suggestions. Allow me to respond to them for the benefit of other readers.

Try saving it with a new name ?

Yes, I have, but that does not change the original creation date I referred to in my post.

PropertiesPlus, is able to manipulate the Creation date, which VBA is unable to do, so I tried it and it seems to work, if I correctly understand the objective of your post.

I tried Properties Plus, but it only allows you to modify the Created, Modified and Accessed dates, but not the ORIGINAL creation date that I am referring to. This field that I am referring to can be viewed (but not changed) in File-Properties-Custom Tab-Advanced Button.

Try this workbook ........

http://www.xcelfiles.com/API_03.html

I tried this too, but like Properties Plus it only changed the Created and Modified dates, but not the ORIGINAL date created.

For past date and future date, change first the system date to past date or future date. Then save it in a different filename.

Thanks, but this doesn't accomplish the task either.

Aside from creating a new file, Excel has no built-in way to do this that I am aware of.

This may be what is required - actually moving all sheets and code to a new workbook. I was hoping to avoid going through all this work, but it may be the only solution to this problem unless someone else has any other ideas.

 

[Tom Urtis]

I tried Properties Plus, but it only allows you to modify the Created, Modified and Accessed dates, but not the ORIGINAL creation date that I am referring to. This field that I am referring to can be viewed (but not changed) in File-Properties-Custom Tab-Advanced Button.

You see a button with your version that I do not see. I am using Excel2003, and no Advance button exists on my File > Properties > Custom tab.

Do this:
Close the file and close Excel.
Go into Windows Explorer and right click on the file you are talking about. From the pop-up menu select "Properties Plus".
Make sure the *only* box checked is Created (not Modified, not Accessed, especially not Attributes). In the fields that show the drop-downs for dates, select or type in the date you want. Click OK (*not* Apply).
Restart Excel, pull up your file, and in the File > Properties > General tab, the Creation date will be what you just changed it to from the steps above.

I just tested it again now and it works fine, but maybe you are looking for something more?

 

[Blazin J]

Tom,

I hope I'm not missing something here, but I did try PropertiesPlus exactly as you described and it did not work. A picture is worth a thousand words so I made a screen snapshot highlighting the original creation date field I am referring to. In reviewing my previous post, I did make an error in saying it was on the Custom Tab. Actually, this date field is on the Summary Tab. My apologies...

 

[Tom Urtis]

Thanks for the screen shot.

Well, it looks like our versions are different nonetheless. What version are you using? On my xl2k3 Properties dialog, I have 5 tabs (you have 3), in the order General, Summary, Statistics, Contents, Custom. Your Summary tab's position (#3 where mine is #2) and interface (mine has clearly defined fields like a dataform) are different. On my General tab, the "Created" date shows the date I changed the file to in WE using PP. I do see on my Statistics tab that the Created date is unchanged, similar to what you see.

Those two dates have the same title of "Created" but there is a difference. On the General tab, "Created" refers to the date when the file was saved on the computer for the first time. The Statistics tab shows the date when the file was created.

Just now, on a test file that i had created 2 weeks ago I ran the following macro:

Sub ChangeDate()
ThisWorkbook.BuiltinDocumentProperties("Creation Date") = Date
End Sub

and it changed the Statistics tab's Created date to today.

I changed the macro to this and ran it
ThisWorkbook.BuiltinDocumentProperties("Creation Date") = Date - 5
and it gave a Statistics tab date of March 18, 2005, 5 days ago.

In both cases the General tab's Created date remained unchanged from the macros, which makes sense because it is a different property.

So, both dates are covered for me...the one on the General tab using Properties Plus, and the other on the Statistics tab using said macros. Does that not work for you?

 

[Blazin J]

Tom,

Thanks for sticking with me on this post. I am using Excel 2002 SP-1. But please note that I am accessing these file properties by right-clicking the Excel icon, not by choosing File Properties from within the Excel program.