# Convert date to year/month/day field

**URL:** <https://discourse.jabref.org/t/convert-date-to-year-month-day-field/1784>\
**Category:** Help\
**Created:** [October 26, 2019, 9:33am UTC](https://discourse.jabref.org/t/convert-date-to-year-month-day-field/1784 "2019-10-26T09:33:30Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 5\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![reox](https://yyz2.discourse-cdn.com/flex030/user_avatar/discourse.jabref.org/reox/32/2000_2.png) [@reox](https://discourse.jabref.org/u/reox)\
**Post date:** [October 26, 2019, 9:33am UTC](https://discourse.jabref.org/t/convert-date-to-year-month-day-field/1784/1 "2019-10-26T09:33:30Z")

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I was on the search for an Android application which can display BibTeX files (see also here: [https://github.com/JabRef/www.jabref.org/issues/90](https://github.com/JabRef/www.jabref.org/issues/90))  
It looks like the only working software right now is “Library” but it does not make use of the `date` field - instead it uses `year`, `month` and `day`.

Is it possible to instruct jabref to use these fields as well? I.e. is it possible to rewrite the fields from the date field to the separate fields?

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**Author:** ![tobiasdiez](https://yyz2.discourse-cdn.com/flex030/user_avatar/discourse.jabref.org/tobiasdiez/32/340_2.png) [@tobiasdiez](https://discourse.jabref.org/u/tobiasdiez)\
**Post date:** [October 26, 2019, 6:02pm UTC](https://discourse.jabref.org/t/convert-date-to-year-month-day-field/1784/2 "2019-10-26T18:02:27Z")

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You could use Cleanup \> Convert to BibTex. But that also converts other fields (like journaltitle \> journal).

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**Author:** ![reox](https://yyz2.discourse-cdn.com/flex030/user_avatar/discourse.jabref.org/reox/32/2000_2.png) [@reox](https://discourse.jabref.org/u/reox)\
**Post date:** [October 27, 2019, 9:29am UTC](https://discourse.jabref.org/t/convert-date-to-year-month-day-field/1784/3 "2019-10-27T09:29:42Z")

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Okay thanks for the hint. But i think a cleaner solution would be to patch library in order to be able to use biblatex files.

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**Author:** ![Siedlerchr](https://yyz2.discourse-cdn.com/flex030/user_avatar/discourse.jabref.org/siedlerchr/32/216_2.png) [@Siedlerchr](https://discourse.jabref.org/u/Siedlerchr)\
**Post date:** [October 27, 2019, 11:14am UTC](https://discourse.jabref.org/t/convert-date-to-year-month-day-field/1784/4 "2019-10-27T11:14:56Z")

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Biblatex should recognize the fields as alias. Or you can fill both fields. It doesn’t matter

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**Author:** ![reox](https://yyz2.discourse-cdn.com/flex030/user_avatar/discourse.jabref.org/reox/32/2000_2.png) [@reox](https://discourse.jabref.org/u/reox)\
**Post date:** [October 27, 2019, 11:30am UTC](https://discourse.jabref.org/t/convert-date-to-year-month-day-field/1784/5 "2019-10-27T11:30:48Z")

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Okay, so if they can be redundant, can you automatically fill the year field from the date field, without converting everything?