I would like to be able to use today's date in a calculated column in a SharePoint list to, for example, determine whether a task is overdue. There is a well-documented trick that involves creating a dummy column named "Today," using it in a formula, and then deleting it, thereby "tricking" SharePoint into using the Today function.
The problem is that this method does not work reliably — the calculation is not dynamic; it is only made when the item is saved, and therefore the Today "column" effectively becomes the Modified Date. (This is probably why SharePoint won't let you use the Today function in a straight-forward way.)
Has anyone found a solution that works? I know I can use javascript to get the actual date on the client side and display colors, flags, whatever, but I am looking for a "server side" solution.
For reference, the Today column trick and its problems are described fairly well at these two posts and associated comments:
http://blogs.msdn.com/cjohnson/archive/2006/03/16/552314.aspx and http://pathtosharepoint.wordpress.com/2008/08/14/calculated-columns-the-useless-today-trick/
Best Answer
There simply isn't a work around for this. As the values for the list are stored in the database and returned "as is" to other featurs such as the search crawler, a dynamic field cannot be created.
It is possible to create a custom field that will display the value using todays date in its calculation.