Adding the current date and time to your Excel sheets is super helpful for keeping track of your work. Excel has a few different ways to do this, both for dates that stay the same and ones that update automatically.
Method 1: Using Functions for Dynamic Dates
If you need the date or time to change automatically whenever you open or recalculate the spreadsheet, the TODAY and NOW functions are your best bet. They’re super easy to use and don’t need any extra info.
To show just today’s date, drop this formula into a cell:
=TODAY()
Just type the formula above into the cell where you want the date. The TODAY function doesn’t need anything between the parentheses, just leave them empty.
If you want both the current date and time, use this formula:
=NOW()
Method 2: Using Keyboard Shortcuts for Static Dates
Sometimes, you need the date or time to stay the same, like a timestamp. In that case, use these keyboard shortcuts. These are ‘static’, so they won’t change when you recalculate the spreadsheet.
-
To insert today’s date: Press
Ctrl+; -
To insert the current time: Press
Ctrl+Shift+; -
To insert both the date and time: Press
Ctrl+;, then press theSpacebar, and then pressCtrl+Shift+;
Extracting Date Components
Excel can also pull out different parts of the date using these handy functions:
Today’s Day Number
Want just the day number without the month or year? Use this formula:
=DAY(TODAY())
This formula takes the date from
TODAY and only shows the day.
Today’s Month
If you only need the month number, here’s the formula:
=MONTH(TODAY())
This gives you just the month number.
Today’s Year
For just the year, use this:
=YEAR(TODAY())
This returns the current year.
Current Time Only
If you need just the current time, and not the date, use this formula:
=NOW()-TODAY()
Sometimes this displays as a serial number. To fix that, go to the Home tab, click the dropdown in the Number group, and select Time.
Now it’ll show the current time correctly:
Adding or Subtracting Days
You can also easily add or remove days from the current date:
To add 5 days to today’s date, use:
=TODAY()+5
To subtract 5 days from today, use this:
=TODAY()-5
Working Days
If you want to add or subtract workdays, excluding weekends, use the WORKDAY function:
To add 20 workdays to today’s date, use:
=WORKDAY(TODAY(),20)
The first part is the start date (which is
TODAY), and the second part is the number of workdays to add.
To subtract 20 workdays from today’s date:
=WORKDAY(TODAY(),-20)
Just put a minus sign before the number of days to subtract workdays.