Word.

Q. How do I automatically insert the current date in a document?

A. There are several ways. Let's start with the simplest and work our way up to the more complex. But before we start, be sure to turn on Word's AutoComplete feature, or else some of these methods won't work. To turn on the feature, go to the toolbar and click on Insert, Auto Text and Auto Text again and put a check next to Show AutoComplete suggestions.

* If you start to type a month--say June--this is what appears:

If you follow the label's instructions and press Enter, the full current date will appear:

June 9, 2003.

But if you just start to type any month other than the current one (Sept, for example), Word will complete the name of the month when you press Enter.

* Another way to insert the date is to go to the toolbar and click on Insert, Date and Time, evoking this screen:

[ILLUSTRATION OMITTED]

Notice all the available date and time formats you can choose from. You can set a default format by clicking on the Default button. And if you check Update automatically, Word will insert the current date every time you print the document.

* If you want Word to insert the current month whenever you print your document, follow these steps: Put your cursor where you want the month inserted and press Ctrl+F9 to insert a set of field braces: {}

Between the braces, type date \@MMMM and press F9 to update the field.

Q. In the good old days when I was using WordPerfect, the program created a backup copy of every file I opened. That way, if I made a mistake--say, I deleted an important section--the backup always was there to rescue me. Why doesn't Word do that?

A. It docs, only, unlike WordPerfect, it's not a default condition. However, it's easy to set that default. In the toolbar, click on Tools, Options and the Save tab.

Then place a check in the box next to Always create backup copy and click on OK.

Word saves the backup files with a WBK filename extension. Older versions of Word used a BAK extension.