Date a worksheet was last updated

[kenelder]

I have an Excel 2003 workbook with several worksheets. In each worksheet, I want to show the date that the worksheet (not the workbook) was last updated.

There is no Insert > Field feature in Excel like there is in Word, but is there something similar in Excel? Would a macro be the solution?

[shg]

You'd have to have code that changes a date on the sheet (or a named constant) each time the sheet is modified. Doing so would kill Undo, which, IMO, is a heavy price to pay.

Or maybe you could maintain public variables that maintain the dates for each sheet, and write them out when the workbook is saved ...

[ChemistB]

I have some workbooks in which I use the Share and Protect ability(with track changes) to track each and every change within the workbook (well, most changes). Then when I go to "Track Changes" > "Highlight Changes", I chose to show them on a separate sheet. That shows who made what changes when and what they changed.

[kenelder]

Excellent suggestion, but I'm afraid it won't satisfy the requirements in this situation. Each worksheet in this workbook contains project status information for a different person. Our management wants to be able to go to a worksheet and see the date that that person last updated his or her project status information.

[ChemistB]

It won't work because management needs an easier way? You could have a macro do it, connected to a button (on each page). The boss will automatically be on a "history" sheet which documents changes from oldest to newest. The history sheet is not saved when the workbook is saved.

[kenelder]

Yes, management wants an easier way to see the date each worksheet was last updated. And to tell you the truth, I want an easier way to implement the solution. In a Word 2003 document, it takes only a few seconds to insert a SaveDate field. It seems that there should be a similarly quick and simple way to implement a similar solution in an Excel worksheet. I guess that may be wishful thinking. Oh well, I will probably try your suggestion tomorrow and discover that it works great :-)

[shg]

In fairness, Word doesn't have a 'Page Changed' field, and you can access the last modified date of an Excel file.

[kenelder]

Hmmm -- you're absolutely right. Good point!