Let Access enter today's date automatically

Your users shouldn't have to manually type the current date over and over into an Access form. Save them some time and effort by automating the process.

Are your users frequently typing today's date into their forms? You can set the default properties for the date field so that they will never have to type the date again. For example, say you use a form based on the Orders table for entering each day's orders as they are processed. Follow these steps:

  1. Open the Orders table in Design View.
  2. Click on the Date field.
  3. In the Table Properties window, click in the Default text box and enter Date().
  4. Click the drop-down arrow of the Format text box and select Short Date (Figure A).

Figure A

  1. Save the table.
Now, Access will automatically fill in today's date for any new records (Figure B). Any form based on this table will also have the current date entered by default.

Figure B

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