This VBA Microsoft Word routine purges a document when it’s opened after a predefined expiration date. I’ve only tested this macro with Word 97:
Sub Purge() Dim ExpirationDate As Date ExpirationDate = #4/1/98# 'This particular document expires on 1 April 1998 If Date >= ExpirationDate Then 'Purge the document With Selection .WholeStory .Delete Unit:=wdCharacter, Count:=1 .TypeText Text:= _ "This document expired on" & _ Str(ExpirationDate) & "." .TypeParagraph End With ActiveDocument.Save 'Alert the user MsgBoxResult = MsgBox("This document has expired. " _ & "Please acquire an updated copy.", , _ "Document Purge") End IfEnd Sub
In order to work, you should call this macro from a document’s AutoOpen macro.