[Solved] Field corruption in Doc format

[Roger]

I use an Open Office template which contains the file creation date in a field.
The date appears correctly when I open it .
After adding to the document I save it in .doc format for compatibility with other people in the office who are using MS Word.
If I reopen the saved document the creation date has been changed to Author and I have to double click the field to change it to creation date again, for printing.
This happens every time that I open the document.
Is this an inherent fault, or am I missing something?

Roger

Edit: Hagar (Moderator): fixed in 3.1.

[foxcole]

According to the Migration Guide (available in the link to PDF manuals, in my signature) the CreateDate field in Word should convert to the DocInformation:Created field... but your question doesn't contain enough details to tell whether you've found an issue or not (version issues, exactly how you inserted the date, etc.).

Please read and follow the tips in the Survival Guide, also linked in my signature.

[Roger]

I thought that the description said it all, but I will try again.

I am using Open Office version 2.3.0.

I have created a document in Write.

I used Insert > Fields > Other > Document > Date > Date (Fixed) and chose the format in order to display the creation date of the document.

I saved this as an OpenDocument Text Template, .ott.

I closed the document and then used open template to get it back as Untitled2.

The correct saved date appeared in the chosen format.

I added extra text to the document and then saved it in Microsoft Word 97/2000/XP(.DOC) format.

I closed the document and then opened it again.

The formatted date had changed to my name, i.e. Author.

When I double clicked on it I got:-

Edit fields: DocInformation, Type > Created, Select > Author, and all format options greyed.

If I click on Date and reselect the previous format, my original document is restored.

If I open the saved document in MS Word2000 the date appears correctly.

The problem seems to be that Writer misreads the field requirements when it reopens the .DOC formatted file.

Thanks for your assistance

Roger

[foxcole]

Excellent!! That is exactly how a problem should be posted. That's one of the best posts I've ever seen, and I hope you won't mind if I (or others) might occasionally use it as an example. Now I know how to try to duplicate the problem, which I'll go do now and get back to you.

I used Insert > Fields > Other > Document > Date > Date (Fixed) and chose the format in order to display the creation date of the document.

But in the meantime, as I hinted before, the Created date is stored in the DocInformation tab under "Created". The Migration Guide lists what will and will not transfer to and from the Word format. Try replacing your field with the DocInformation version and I believe your problems will go away. I agree that the current field shouldn't be changing the way you're seeing it change, and that's what I will try to duplicate, but the above field is the one you want to use to display the creation date.

[foxcole]

Actually, I do have one more question. Which format specifically were you choosing for the date? Did you try any other formats?

[Hagar Delest]

There are some issues with fields, like that one: Issue 74244 - WW8: Field DocInformation Modified "Date" turns into "author" on export.

I tag the thread as Issue.

[foxcole]

Wow, that's a wider and deeper issue than I thought. Thanks, Hagar, I of course should have looked through the Issue Tracker first.

Actually, the first method that Roger suggested works just fine for me in 2.3.1 and 2.4RC4 because the date is inserted as text rather than preserved as a field:

I used Insert > Fields > Other > Document > Date > Date (Fixed) and chose the format in order to display the creation date of the document.

The method I suggested does not work, it shows the author name as documented here and in issue 74244. So, I haven't been any help at all, all the way around this issue. Sorry, Roger!