How to work with Date Picker in Excel

Date Picker is a drop-down calendar that helps entering dates in Excel. Just run the calendar and click the needed date to get it automatically inserted into the selected cell. Date Picker will assist if you need to add and subtract years, months, weeks, and days from the chosen date and paste the result into the chosen cell.

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 the Date Picker button:
    Enable Date Picker in Excel.

    Date Picker is enabled, so now each time you select a cell with a date you will see the Date Picker icon on the right. Besides, you can open the drop-down calendar if you right-click a cell and choose the Select Date from Calendar option.

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

How to insert a date into a cell

Right-click any cell and pick the Select Date from Calendar option in the context menu:

Select date from calendar in the context menu.

Tip. If you already have a cell with a date, you will see the date picker icon next to it. Use it whenever you need to quickly replace the date in Excel.

The Date Picker icon.

You can see the Date Picker pane and its elements:

The Date Picker pane.

  1. The Date Calculator icon; click it if you need to add or subtract dates.
  2. Click the Two-month view icon to expand the Date Picker pane to two months. To get back to the one-month view, click these double arrows once again.
  3. The Today icon. Click it to switch to the current date in the calendar.
  4. The Up and Down icons will help you navigate between months.
  5. The Undo icon. Use it to cancel your choice and return the value you had in your sheet before using the tool.

Double-click the needed date or press Enter to have it inserted into the cell and close the calendar.

Tip. When you click on any date in the calendar, you will see it being pre-set in your cell. It will also be displayed at the top of the Date Picker window with a little tip indicating the difference between the today's and the selected dates.
Tip. Click the month name to switch to the year view, click the year to switch to the decade view:
The Date Picker year and decade views.

How to calculate dates in Excel

Select a cell that contains the date you want to use for calculations, right-click it and choose the Select Date from Calendar option in 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.

Click the Calculator icon in the upper-right corner of the Date Picker pane or press F4 to open Date Calculator:

Date Calculator for Excel.

You can 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 (-) button. Besides, you can use the corresponding buttons on your keyboard.
  2. The result of the calculation.
  3. The units you can add or subtract.
    Tip. To move between YEARS/MONTHS/WEEKS/DAYS comfortably, use left/right arrow buttons on your keyboard or hotkeys:

    Y for years

    M for months

    W for weeks

    D for days

  4. The Backspace icon; click it to cancel entering the last digit or press Backspace on your keyboard.
  5. The Clear icon: single click - the last entered digit is removed, double click - all entry is removed.
  6. The Show result in calendar button; click it to display the calculated date in the calendar.
  7. Click the Put result to cell button to insert the result into the selected cell.

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

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

The result of the calculations is displayed on the pane:

Subtract dates in Excel.

Click the equal sign (=) to perform calculations with the result date:

How to calculate dates in Excel.

Tip. Double-click C on the pane or press C 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.

Press Enter or click the Put result to cell button 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 - the Date Calculator is opened.
  3. Click the plus sign (+) or the minus sign (-), enter the needed number of years, months, weeks, or days.
  4. Press Enter and get the result pasted into the initially selected cell.

How to calculate dates and age in Excel