Add Date, Time or Text to Side of Word Document

Here is an easy and effective way to add a date stamp, time stamp, vertical text or any repeating information to the left or right side margins of a Microsoft Word document.

You have probably dealt with Headers/Footers before but there are times when having information on the side margins are also required. For example, legal documents, a controlled document requiring printed time and date stamp, etc.

How to Add Repeating Date, Time Stamp or Vertical Text to the Left or Right Margin of a Word Document

Step 1: Open the desired Word document.

Step 2: Click on Page Layout tab and choose the desired Margins. Ensure the Margins are large enough to accommodate your repeating Date Stamp and won’t be cutoff during printing.

Step 3: Enable a Header by clicking on Insert tab and choosing a Header type.

Step 4: Double click on the Header area if it’s not selected at the moment.

Step 5: Click on Insert tab and enter a Text Box. Drag the text box to where you want the repeating date stamp, time stamp or text to appear.

Step 6: You are probably seeking to make the information appear vertically. If so, double click on the border of the text box to enable the Text Box Tools Format Tab. Under this tab, click on Text Direction until you have the desired text direction. Now, format the text box to remove the border if you wish.

Step 7: To insert a date or time stamp which would automatically populate the current date or time, click on Insert tab > Date & Time and choose the format you wish to display. Be sure to check the Update automatically check box. If you want to manually enter the date or time stamp which doesn’t automaticallly change then simply type in a date/time you wish to repeat on the side margin. For vertical text, simply type in whatever text you wish to appear in the text box.

That’s it, a date / time stamp or vertical text will now be repeated on the side margin of every page.