How to work with Date Picker in Excel

Date Picker is a dropdown calendar that helps enter dates in Excel. Just run the tool and click the date that you want to insert into the selected cell. With Date Picker, you can also change a date by adding or subtracting years, months, weeks, and days.

Video: How to use Date Picker

How to turn Date Picker on and off

  1. On the Ablebits Tools tab, in the Date & Time group, click Date Picker:
    Enable Date Picker in Excel.

    Date Picker is enabled, so now each time you select a cell with a date you'll see the Date Picker icon on the right. Besides, you can open the dropdown calendar by right-clicking a cell and choosing the Select Date from Calendar option.

  2. To turn Date Picker off, click Date Picker on the ribbon again.

How to insert a date into a cell

Right-click any cell and choose the Select Date from Calendar option from the context menu:
The Select Date from Calendar option

Tip. If you already have a cell with a date, you'll see the Date Picker icon next to it. Use this icon whenever you need to quickly replace the date in Excel.

The Date Picker icon

Here is the Date Picker pane:
The Date Picker pane

  1. Click the Date Calculator icon if you need to add or subtract dates.
  2. With the Two-month view icon, you can expand the Date Picker pane to two months. To get back to the one-month view, click the double arrow once again.
  3. Click the Today icon to switch to the current date in the calendar.
  4. The Up and Down icons will help you navigate between months.
  5. Use the Undo icon to cancel your choice and return the value that was in the selected cell previously.

Double-click the needed date or click it and press Enter to insert the date into the selected cell.

Tip. When you click any date in the calendar, you'll see it preset in the selected cell. The date will also be displayed at the top of the tool pane with a tip indicating the difference between the today's date and the selected one.
Tip. Click the month name to switch to the year view, and click the year to switch to the decade view:
The Date Picker year and decade views

How to calculate dates in Excel

Right-click the cell that contains the date you want to use for calculations and choose the Select Date from Calendar option from the context menu. Or click the Date Picker icon next to the selected cell:
Date Picker icon

Note. If an empty cell or a cell with a non-date value is selected, the current date will be used for calculations.

To open Date Calculator, click the Date Calculator icon in the upper-right corner of the Date Picker pane or press F4.
Date Calculator for Excel

You'll see the Date Calculator pane and its elements:
Add years in Excel.

  1. When you run Date Calculator, the addition (+) is chosen as the default operation. If you need to subtract dates, just click the minus sign (-). You can also use the corresponding buttons on your keyboard.
  2. The result of the calculation.
  3. The units you can add or subtract.
    Tip. To comfortably move between YEARS/MONTHS/WEEKS/DAYS, use the Left and Right arrow keys on your keyboard. You can also press:

    • The Y key for years
    • The M key for months
    • The W key for weeks
    • The D key for days
  4. The Backspace icon. Click it to cancel entering the last digit or press Backspace on your keyboard.
  5. The Clear icon. Click it to remove the last entered digit. Double-click this icon to remove the whole entry.
  6. The Show result in calendar icon. Use it to display the calculated date in the calendar.
  7. Click the Put result to cell icon to insert the result into the selected cell.

Use the number keys on your keyboard or click the digits on the Date Calculator pane to enter the number of years, months, weeks, or days you want to add or subtract.

Click the plus sign (+) to add or the minus sign (-) to subtract the entered number of years, months, weeks, or days.

Click the equal sign (=) or press Enter on your keyboard, and the result of the calculations will be displayed on the pane:
Subtract dates in Excel.

Tip. Click the equal sign (=) to perform calculations with the resulting date.
Tip. Double-click C on the pane or press the C key on your keyboard to remove all the digits.
Tip. Press the F6 key or click the Show result in calendar icon and you will get the date selected in the calendar.

Click the Put result to cell icon to insert the result into the initially selected cell.

A quick way to calculate a date

  1. Select a cell with the date you want to use for calculations and click the Date Picker icon next to it.
  2. Press F4 to open the Date Calculator pane.
  3. Perform the necessary calculations.
  4. When you see the desired result on the Date Calculator pane, press Ctrl+Enter and get the resulting date pasted into the cell that was initially selected.

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