How do I get an abbreviation to type out the date and/or time?

Select Edit Clippings... and click on the + ("add") button. A newabb/newclipping entry appears in the list, with newabb ready to be overtyped by the actual name you will invent for this new abbreviation.

Think of a name for this new abbreviation, for example, dtl could stand for date in long format and expand to Sunday, July 9, 2006. Press the TAB key twice: once to move the the newclipping field, twice to exit edit mode, as you will not be editing the clipping in the cell.

Now you need to change newclipping to a special syntax that will represent the date and or time in whatever format you wish. Click once on the dtl/newclipping line to select it, then press TAB: the cursor will be blinking in the right hand pane of the Clipping tab. Erase the word newclipping, then click on the Insert popup menu under the pane:

and select the appropriate date or time format. When you make your choice, you will see a funny looking mix of % signs and letters or numbers, for example: %A, %B %e, %Y

Now click Save and the new abbreviation is ready for use.

NOTE: This is a standard way to describe the elements making up date and time, called strftime. Google strftime if you want to find out more about it, or simply use the above Date and Time menus to pick the pre-defined formats or even roll your own using the individual elements in the lower three sections. Note that when the month or the day numbers are two digits long, you may wonder why they appear twice. Looking at the above picture, you'll see that the first number is 07 while the second is 7, giving you the choice for single digit months (or days, 09 and 9 above) to include (or not) a leading zero.

IMPORTANT: If you ever want to have a % (percent sign) come out in your expanded clipping, you'll have to double it (%%) because of the above syntax.