Have you ever needed to change a file’s Date Created, Date Modified, …

For the later it is simple! For the former, things are much more complicated.

Updating a File’s Date Modified

Changing the Date Modified is actually ‘pretty’ straightforward.

Now, one might think (and rightfully so), that you could use the FSO File DateLastModified property for this, but sadly it is read-only. That said, instead, we need to use the Folder Item’s ModifyDate. Once we realize that, it’s just a question of writing a wrapper procedure, such as:

VBScript Version

'Change the Date Modified for the specified file
'	https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/win32/shell/folderitem-modifydate
Dim oFSO 'As Object
Dim oShell 'As Object
Dim oFile 'As Object
Dim oFolder 'As Object
Dim sFile 'As String

sFile = "C:\Temp\File Properties\test.txt"

Set oFSO = CreateObject("Scripting.FileSystemObject")
Set oShell = CreateObject("Shell.Application")
Set oFile = oFSO.GetFile(sFile)
Set oFolder = oShell.NameSpace(oFile.ParentFolder.Path)

oFolder.Items.Item(oFile.Name).ModifyDate = DateSerial(2000, 1, 12) + TimeSerial(5, 35, 17)

Set oFolder = Nothing
Set oFile = Nothing
Set oShell = Nothing
Set oFSO = Nothing

You need only change the sFile value and then update the DateSerial/TimeSerial values for the date/time you wish to update the Date modified to.

VBA Version

Similarly, in VBA we can do something along the lines of:

'---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
' Procedure : File_Set_DateModified
' Author    : Daniel Pineault, CARDA Consultants Inc.
' Website   : http://www.cardaconsultants.com
' Purpose   : Update the Date Modified of the specified file
' Copyright : The following is release as Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International
'             (CC BY-SA 4.0) - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/
' Req'd Refs: Late Binding  -> None required
' References:
'
' Input Variables:
' ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
' sFile     : Fully qualified path and filename to update the Date Modified of
' dtDateTime: The new date/time to apply as the Date Modified, if omitted the current
'               Date and Time will be used
'
' Output Variable:
' ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
' True      : File's Modify Date changed
' False     : File's Modify Date NOT changed
'
' Usage:
' ~~~~~~
' Set the file's Date Modified to Now()
' ? File_Set_DateModified("C:\Temp\File Properties\test.txt")
'   Returns -> True
'
' Set the file's Date Modified to 2000/01/12 5:35:17
' ? File_Set_DateModified("C:\Temp\File Properties\test.txt", _
'   DateSerial(2000, 1, 12) + TimeSerial(5, 35, 17))
'   Returns -> True
'
' Set the file's Date Modified to 12/31/2001 15:22:11
' ? File_Set_DateModified("C:\Temp\File Properties\test.txt", #12/31/2001 15:22:11#)
'   Returns -> True
'
' Revision History:
' Rev       Date(yyyy-mm-dd)        Description
' **************************************************************************************
' 1         2022-11-28              Initial Release
'---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Function File_Set_DateModified(sFile As String, Optional dtDateTime As Date) As Boolean
'Change the Last Modified / Date Modified of a File
'   https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/win32/shell/folderitem-modifydate
'   There is no FSO CreateDate property, nor LastAccessDate property!
    On Error GoTo Error_Handler
    Dim oFSO                  As Object
    Dim oShell                As Object
    Dim oFile                 As Object
    Dim oFolder               As Object

    Set oFSO = CreateObject("Scripting.Filesystemobject")
    Set oShell = CreateObject("Shell.Application")
    Set oFile = oFSO.GetFile(sFile)
    Set oFolder = oShell.NameSpace(oFile.ParentFolder.Path)

    If (TimeValue(Date) = dtDateTime) Then dtDateTime = Now
    oFolder.Items.Item(oFile.Name).ModifyDate = dtDateTime

    File_Set_DateModified = True

Error_Handler_Exit:
    On Error Resume Next
    Set oFolder = Nothing
    Set oFile = Nothing
    Set oShell = Nothing
    Set oFSO = Nothing
    Exit Function

Error_Handler:
'    If Err.Number = 53 Then    'File not found
'        'Silent
'    Else
        MsgBox "The following error has occurred" & vbCrLf & vbCrLf & _
               "Error Source: File_Set_DateModified" & vbCrLf & _
               "Error Number: " & Err.Number & vbCrLf & _
               "Error Description: " & Err.Description & _
               Switch(Erl = 0, "", Erl <> 0, vbCrLf & "Line No: " & Erl) _
               , vbOKOnly + vbCritical, "An Error has Occurred!"
'    End If
    Resume Error_Handler_Exit
End Function

and then we can use it by siomply doing:

Set the Date Modified to the Current Date/Time

Call File_Set_DateModified("C:\Temp\File Properties\test.txt")

Set the Date Modified to a Specific Date/Time

Call File_Set_DateModified("C:\Temp\File Properties\test.txt", _
   DateSerial(2000, 1, 12) + TimeSerial(5, 35, 17))

Or

Call File_Set_DateModified("C:\Temp\File Properties\test.txt", #12/31/2001 15:22:11#)

Sadly, FSO does not expose either the Date Created, nor the Date Last Accessed. So for these we need to seek another solution.

Updating a File’s Date Created

There are ways to use Bat files, with elevated privileges, that change the system date/time, copy the file, rename it, and then set the date/time back, but I found them to be buggy when tested.

A better solution might be to employ a utility such as FileTouch.exe which was designed just for this task and emulates Unix’s/Linux’s touch command. That said, it isn’t always easy, in corporate environments, to get approval to use exe programs, especially those from 3rd parties.

Yet an even better approach is probably to simply to use Chip Peason’s VBA code, so take a look at:

He has sample downloads with all the required code.

I prefer this because it is plain VBA (yes, with lots of APIs!) and it is open-source so you can see exactly what is going on.

An example of it’s usage could be:

Call SetFileDateTime("C:\Temp\File Properties\test.txt", DateSerial(1988, 12, 22) + TimeSerial(8, 57, 11), FileDateCreate)

It can be used to update the Creation, Modification and/or Last Accessed dates by simply switching the last input variable.