Manually specify the Date field value when creating new features in ArcMap

Summary

This article describes the workflow to manually specify the Date field value when creating new features in ArcMap.

Procedure

Although it is not possible to dynamically auto-populate a Date field with the current date for each newly created feature, it is possible to specify the date a feature was created manually by changing the Date field's default value inside of a feature's Template Properties dialog box.

1. Right-click the desired layer in the Table of Contents and click Open Attribute Table.
2. Select the Table Options drop-down and click Add Field.
3. Name the field 'DATE_MOD', select the field type Date, and click OK.
4. Right-click the layer in the Table of Contents once more and click Edit Features > Start Editing.
5. Once the Create Features window appears, right-click the feature template for the desired layer and click Properties.
6. Click the <Null> value next to the Date field and select the date from the calendar drop-down. Click Apply and OK.