How to find the date a Word document was created.

Most of the time we use Windows OS properties to find out the created or modified date by right clicking on the Word document and select “Properties” from the menu.

Below is an example of what the Windows Properties would show you:

However, we found that it is not an accurate way to find the real modified or created date.  The reason is that if you move or copy the same Word file to a different location, the created date will also be changed.  The date of copying or moving becomes the created date.  As you can see below, the created date is newer than the modified date.

Fortunately, there is an accurate way to find out the modified or the created date as long as the original document didn’t get re-saved using the “Save As” button to a different or the same file name.  In order words, if they didn’t use the “SaveAs” button to save, the created date of the original document would be preserved.  Below are the processes of getting the real modified, created or printed date:

1. Open the Word file/document that you want to find the created date using MS Word 2013 or newer.

2. Click the File Menu Tab.

3. Choose “Info” from the left pane.

4. From the right pane, you should see “modified, created and printed” date.

That’s it. 

If you are interested,we also have a post on how to find the date of creation or modified date for PDF documents

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