How to fill a Numbers cell automatically with today's date without the date updating automatically

Filling a cell automatically with a date is a simple matter of placing a formula consisting of the TODAY function into the cell.

Keeping that date as time moves on is another matter.

You can:

Copy the cell, including its formula and that formula's result by clicking on it once, then pressing command-C, then

Paste the formula result by pressing shift-command-V.

The pasted result replaces the formula with a stable date.

OR you can:

Double click the cell to select it and place the insertion point in the cell.

Go to the Insert menu and choose Date and Time.

(or press command-; )

This pastes the current Date and Time value into the cell, but on my Mac, leaves the cell formatted to display only the Date part.

Regards,

Barry

Hi denke,

Adding to Barry's excellent reply:

Barry wrote:

This pastes the current Date and Time value into the cell, but on my Mac, leaves the cell formatted to display only the Date part.

After you use the Insert Menu > Date & Time, click on that cell to see more options:

Those options may vary, depending upon your Region.

Regards,

Ian.

SGIII wrote: "Or click the cell and in the Table menu choose Insert Current Date. The keyboard shortcut is option-shift-command-D."

Minor correction: The keyboard shortcut is control-shift-command-D.

The menu item is near the bottom of the Table menu.

Regards,

Barry

denke wrote:

What I want is for the Order Date cell in the newly added line to have the current date but for that date to be stable, as you put it - not to update automatically as TODAY does. And without my having to stabilize it manually. A function for Insert Current Date would do that, I think. Is there such a thing?

Sorry, there isn't such a feature. Your choice is to use a formula then use Edit > Paste Formula results or, as I first posted above, use Table > Insert Current Date or its keyboard shortcut equivalent displayed there in the menu.

I find it really easy to insert a date stamp, perhaps a fraction of a second or so. Are you experiencing something different?

SG

" A function for Insert Current Date would do that, I think. Is there such a thing?"

The function is "TODAY", and like all functions in Numbers, it is active at all times, meaning if there is a change to the table,* the function recalculates and the cell containing the formula containing that function displays the newly calculated value.

Functions continue to act in that manner today, but can be sidestepped using the copy, thenPaste formula result actions described above.

The calculation can also be done in an Applescript, or using a Service (which may be based on a Applescript) which will insert the date or the date and time into a selected cell as a stable value not attached with any function or formula.**

Applescript (and Service) solutions are not automatic, though, as they require selecting a destination for the output and user action to activate the Service/Script in order to have it calculate and place the result.

SGIII developed several Services several years ago, and offered them as a download to those asking in these discussions for assistance with the tasks they could be applied to. That those offers have not been posted recently suggests to me that the services no longer provide a great improvement over using what is available (in this case, using formulas, then Copy > Paste formula results or using Table (menu) > Insert Date or Table (menu) > Insert Time.

Regards,

Barry

Or click the cell and in the Table menu choose Insert Current Date. The keyboard shortcut is option-shift-command-D.

SG