Date

A date shows a day of the calendar as a small chip, such as Oct 14, 2026. You set it once, and each reader sees it written the way they are used to: someone in the US reads Oct 14, 2026, someone in the UK 14 Oct 2026, someone in Germany 14. Okt. 2026. Nobody has to wonder whether 10/04 means the fourth of October or the tenth of April. Use one for deadlines, launch days, meeting dates: any day people must read correctly.

Insert it

Type the command at the start of a line, or after a space, and press Enter. Or choose + on the toolbar, then Date. If you had text selected, the date takes its place.

In a sentence or in a table

In a sentence

A date in a line of text, for a single day that matters:

In a table

A column of dates makes a timeline. Beside a Status, it says both when and how it is going:

A date does not change color once it has passed, so a status beside it is how readers see that something is late.

Changing and removing it

Click a date while you are editing and a date box opens under it: type a date, or pick one from its calendar. Press Enter to go back to writing. To remove a date, click it and press Delete.

Good practice

• Use a date, not typed text, for any day people act on. Typed dates are read differently in different countries.

• Put the day that matters first in a table of milestones, and keep the rows in date order.

Related elements

• Status shows how something is going, beside when it is due.

• Page properties gives a page a due date that reports can collect.

• Mention says who, as a date says when.