Auto-fill the date in a cell, when the user enters information in an adjacent cell

Question

I have a spread sheet, where people can enter project updates and then the date of the update. What is happening is that people are forgetting to date their notes. Is there a way to have the date cell autopoplute the current/date of entry?

I am assuming an if function would do it?

Answer 1

This event macro will place the date in column B if a value is entered in column A. The macro should be installed in the worksheet code area:

Private Sub Worksheet_Change(ByVal Target As Range)
    Dim A As Range, B As Range, Inte As Range, r As Range
    Set A = Range("A:A")
    Set Inte = Intersect(A, Target)
    If Inte Is Nothing Then Exit Sub
    Application.EnableEvents = False
        For Each r In Inte
            r.Offset(0, 1).Value = Date
        Next r
    Application.EnableEvents = True
End Sub

Because it is worksheet code, it is very easy to install and automatic to use:

1. right-click the tab name near the bottom of the Excel window
2. select View Code - this brings up a VBE window
3. paste the stuff in and close the VBE window

If you have any concerns, first try it on a trial worksheet.

If you save the workbook, the macro will be saved with it. If you are using a version of Excel later then 2003, you must save the file as .xlsm rather than .xlsx

To remove the macro:

1. bring up the VBE windows as above
2. clear the code out
3. close the VBE window

To learn more about macros in general, see:

http://www.mvps.org/dmcritchie/excel/getstarted.htm

and

http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ee814735(v=office.14).aspx

To learn more about Event Macros (worksheet code), see:

http://www.mvps.org/dmcritchie/excel/event.htm

Macros must be enabled for this to work!

Change the code to use different columns.

EDIT#1:

This version will not overwrite material already present in column B:

Private Sub Worksheet_Change(ByVal Target As Range)
    Dim A As Range, B As Range, Inte As Range, r As Range
    Set A = Range("A:A")
    Set Inte = Intersect(A, Target)
    If Inte Is Nothing Then Exit Sub
    Application.EnableEvents = False
        For Each r In Inte
            If r.Offset(0, 1).Value = "" Then
               r.Offset(0, 1).Value = Date
            End If
        Next r
    Application.EnableEvents = True
End Sub