gustaf222 wrote:
I have experience that the folder changes the Date Modified when I open a word och excel file, tested a folder containing a Page and Numbers document, and opened these files, and as expected , the folder stayed in the same time setting without changing the date. This problem has been reported earlier but I can't see how to fix it.
If some one at Apple reades this it would be of much benefit for my workflow if you could fix this problem.
Good luck!
This is due to the way Microsoft Office programs function. It has been this way for at least 6 years through multiple versions of MS-Office, maybe even longer. Microsoft may be creating invisible scratch files inside the folder, or possibly changing the meta data of the file being opened. This results in what looks like a "changed" file inside the folder and hence the modified date on the folder changes. Even if the Word file is closed with no changes being applied, then the scratch files are deleted or the meta data on the file reverts back to what it was, which means another change to the contents of the folder, hence another modified date update to that folder's date. The MacOS is just recording changes, it is the behavior of the Microsoft software that causes this. I doubt there is a simple solution, this behavior is baked into the Microsoft Office (and maybe other Microsoft software) operational behavior. If Microsoft placed its temporary files somewhere else, or if it did not change the meta data before an actual change was recorded, this would not be happening.
Edit: I see that Mr. Sequeira has said mostly the same thing but he posted faster than I could!
