Excel TODAY function to insert today's date and more

The tutorial shows how to insert today's date in your worksheets and demonstrates a few other uses of TODAY function in Excel.

You want to put today's date in some cell? Or you wish to highlight the current date in your Excel calendar? Or you'd like to find the date closest to today? All this can be done by using the Excel TODAY function and this tutorial will teach you how.

Excel TODAY function - syntax and basic uses

The TODAY function in Excel does exactly what its name indicates - returns today's date.

The syntax of the TODAY function is as simple as it could possible be - it does not have any arguments at all. Whenever you need to insert today's date in Excel, just enter the following formula in a cell:

=TODAY()

You can format the value returned by TODAY in any built-in or custom date format. For example, this way:
Excel TODAY function

4 things you should know about TODAY in Excel

  1. TODAY() is a volatile function, which means that it updates itself continuously every time a worksheet is opened or changed.
  2. If a TODAY formula does not update automatically, most likely automatic recalculation is turned off in your workbook. To turn it on again, go to the Formulas tab > Calculation Options, and select Automatic.
  3. To enter today's date in Excel as a static unchangeable value, use these keyboard shortcuts.
  4. If you want to insert current date and time, use the NOW function instead of TODAY.

How to insert today's date in Excel

There are two ways to enter the current date in Excel - a formula and shortcut. Which one to use depends on whether you want a static or dynamic value.

Excel formula for today's date

The value returned by the TODAY function updates automatically, so the below formula is useful if you want the worksheet to always display the current date, regardless of when you open it.

=TODAY()

To clarify what kind of date that is, you can concatenate TODAY() with some explanatory text, for example:

=CONCATENATE("Today is ",TEXT(TODAY(), "mmmm dd, yyyy"))

Because in the internal Excel system dates and times are stored as numbers, concatenating text with the TODAY() formula directly would result in a meaningless string like "Today is 42965". To avoid this, we nest Excel's TODAY function within the TEXT function to display the date in the desired format.
Formula to insert today's date in Excel

Shortcuts to get today's date in Excel

The inset today's date as an unchangeable timestamp that won't automatically update the next day, use one of the following keyboard shortcuts:

  • To inset today's date: Ctrl + ;
  • To insert the current time: Ctrl + Shift + ;
  • To enter the current date and time: Ctrl + ; then Space and then Ctrl + Shift + ;

How to use TODAY function in Excel - formula examples

As you already know, the main purpose of the Excel TODAY function is to get today's date. Aside from that, you can use TODAY() in combination with other functions to perform more complex calculations based on the current date. Below you will find a few examples of such formulas.

Add or subtract days to/from today's date

To add or subtract a specific number of days to/from the current date, use a simple arithmetic operation of addition or subtraction, respectively.

For example, to add 7 days to todays' date, use this formula:

=TODAY()+7

To subtract 7 days from the current date, go with this one:

=TODAY()-7

To exclude weekends (Saturday and Sunday) from your calculations, nest the TODAY function within WORKDAY that deals with weekdays only:

To add 7 workdays to today's date:

=WORKDAY(TODAY(), 7)

To subtract 7 workdays from today's date:

=WORKDAY(TODAY(), -7)

The following screenshot shows the results:
Add or subtract days to/from today's date

Tip. To display the calculated date correctly, set the formula cell's format to Date.

Get the number of days before or after a certain date

To calculate how many days are left before some data, subtract today's date from the future date you are counting toward:

date-TODAY()

The date can be supplied directly to a formula in the format that Excel can understand, or by using the DATE function, or as a reference to the cell containing the date.

For example, to find out how many days are left till December 31, 2017, use one of these formulas:

=A2-TODAY()

=DATE(2017,12,31)-TODAY()

="12/31/2017"-TODAY()

All three formulas tell us that at the moment of writing (August 17, 2017), 136 days were left till the end of the year 2017:
Get the number of days before a future date

To calculate the number of days since a certain date, subtract the past date from today's date:

TODAY()-date

For example, to find out how many days have passed since January 1, 2017, use one of these formulas:

=TODAY()-A2

=TODAY()-DATE(2017,1,1)

=TODAY()-"1/1/2017"
Get the number of days since a past date

Tip. If the result is not displayed correct, be sure to apply the General format to the formula cell.

Calculate months since or before a certain date

To get the number of months between today and a past date, use the DATEDIF(start_date, end_date, unit) function with the past date in the start_date argument, TODAY() as end_date and "m" unit denoting months:

DATEDIF(past_ date, TODAY(),"m")

To get the number of months between today and a future date, swap the start_date and end_date arguments:

DATEDIF(TODAY(), future-date,"m")

With the date of interest in cell A4, use the following formulas to calculate time difference in the number of complete months:

To calculate months since a certain date in the past:

=DATEDIF(A4,TODAY(),"m")

To calculate months before a certain date in the future:

=DATEDIF(TODAY(),A4,"m")

Get the number of months between today and a past date Get the number of months between today and a future date

Calculate years since / before a certain date

The formulas to calculate years based on today's date are similar to the ones discussed in the above example. The difference is that you use "y" unit to get the number of complete years between today and another data:

To calculate years since a past date:

DATEDIF(past_ date, TODAY(),"y")

To calculate years before a future date:

DATEDIF(TODAY(), future-date,"y")

Assuming the past/future date is in cell A4, you should be good with using these formulas:

The number of complete years since date:

=DATEDIF(A4,TODAY(),"y")

The number of complete years before date:

=DATEDIF(TODAY(),A4,"y")

Get the number of years since a past date Get the number of years before a future date

For more information about the DATEDIF function, please see Excel DATEDIF - calculate difference between two dates.

Get age from birthdate

If you know someone's year of birth, you can subtract that year from the current year to find the person's age:

YEAR( TODAY())-year_of_birth

For example, if the person was born in 2000, you use the following formula to get his/her age:

=YEAR( TODAY())-2000

Or, you can enter the year of birth in a separate cell and reference that cell in your formula:
Formula to get age from birthdate

You can learn a few other age calculation formulas in this tutorial: How to get age from date of birth in Excel.

Find the nearest date to today

If you are curious to know which date in a list is closest to today's date, use one of the following array formulas to find it out.

Get a past date closest to today

To find a past date nearest to the current date, first "filter out" the dates greater than today, and then use the MAX function to get the largest date among the remaining ones:

MAX(IF(range < TODAY(), range))

With the dates in cells A2 to A10, the formula would go as follows:

=MAX(IF($A$2:$A$10 < TODAY(), $A$2:$A$10))
Get a past date closest to today

Get a future date closest to today

To find the nearest future date, identify the dates that are greater than today, and then use the MIN function to get the smallest date among them:

MIN(IF(range >TODAY(), range))

For our sample data set, we'd use this formula:

=MIN(IF($A$2:$A$10 > TODAY(), $A$2:$A$10))
Get a future date closest to today

Get any date closest to today

To get the nearest date in a mixed list of past and future dates, use the classic INDEX MATCH formula with a couple of modifications:

INDEX(range, MATCH(MIN(ABS(range - TODAY())), ABS(range - TODAY()), 0))

Here's how this generic formula works:

  • MIN(ABS(range -TODAY())) part. First, you subtract today's date from each date in the range of dates. Then, the ABS function returns the differences as absolute values without regard to their sign. The MIN finds the minimal value, which goes to INDEX MATCH as the lookup value.
  • ABS(range -TODAY()) part. You subtract today's date from the range of dates and return an array of absolute values. This array is where INDEX MATCH searches for the lookup value.

In this example, the formula takes the following shape:

=INDEX($A$2:$A$10, MATCH(MIN(ABS($A$2:$A$10 - TODAY())), ABS($A$2:$A$10 - TODAY()), 0))

The screenshot below shows the result:
Get the nearest date to today

Note. All three formulas to get the nearest date are array formulas, so they should be completed by pressing Ctrl + Shift + Enter.

How to highlight today's date in Excel

When working with a long list of dates or designing your own calendar in Excel, you may want to have the current date highlighted. To have it done, create a conditional formatting rule with this formula:

=B2=TODAY()

Where B2 is the left-top-most cell of the range to which the rule applies.

The result may look something similar to this:
Highlight today's date in Excel

The detailed steps to set up a conditional formatting rule can be found here: How to create a conditional formatting rule based on formula.

To have a closer look at the formulas discussed in this tutorial, you are welcome to download our sample workbook below. Thank you for reading!

Practice workbook for download

Excel TODAY formula - examples (.xlsx file)

Latest comments

  1. =IF(OR(G643="Despatch", G643="Preflight", L643="Haridas", L643="Vijay", L643="Vinit", L643="Samad"), TODAY(), "static value" is this formula in excel but date today auto change tommrrow. If not changes date

  2. I am using the TODAY function to automate the date, however I also would like to automate the day of the week in an adjacent cell, i.e. MONDAY. What formula should I use to link the date using TODAY function?

    1. Hi Seymour,

      To get the day of the week, you can use TODAY together with the TEXT function:

      =TEXT(TODAY(), "dddd")

  3. Question. I am making a spreadsheet for my work and in columb B are dates, some are blank because we have not got that far. Column C is days sence column B. I use =today()-b2 for row 2 and it shows a number lets say 29. Row 3 Column B has no date yet and Column C has the formula =today()-b3 but it displays 45405. Is there a way to hide 45405 or make blank until I put a date into Column B?

      1. Thanks. Worked perfectly.

  4. Hi Team, is there a way to get Day as a value from Today function?

    I have tried Text(today(),"dd") but return number as a text.

    Thanks for you help.

  5. Hi :)

    I have a sheet that i use Windings 2 - to add a checkmark.
    And i want to add todays date/time when i check off the cell with the checkbox. (its; "P") '

    How can do that?

    Rows i use: L4 to L1000 - and i want date to appear in row: R4 to R1000

    Appreciate the help!!

  6. Hello,
    Can you help, I’ve a cell A1 with TODAY entered ( formatted to mmm-yyyy). I’m trying to compare A2-A10 containing sequential month and year formatted the same as A1, to produce a transpose sheet if the correct month and year tally up or produce a 0.
    I’m using IF(A2= A1, “transpose sheet x”, “0”)
    My result alway produce 0 even when A2=A1 eg, Jan-2023=Jan-2023.

    1. Hi! What value is written in A2? I assume that text is written there. If you compare the date to the text, condition A2=A1 will never hold. You can convert the date to text with the TEXT function. For example, TEXT(A1,"mmm-yyyy")

  7. I need a formula, where I mark work as done then in the next column it shows the exact date and that can't be changed.

    1. Hi!
      To prevent your date from automatically changing, you can use several methods:
      1. Use Shortcuts to insert the current date and time as described above.
      2. Use the recommendations from this article in our blog.
      3. Replace the date and time returned by the TODAY() function with their values. Copy the date (CTRL + C), then paste only the values using Paste Special or Shortcut CTRL + ALT + V.

      1. i understand what he asked for and i need it also.
        i want to add some data to B1 B2 B3 ..etc

        whenever i add data to B1, i want excel to autowrite today's date in A1 static.
        wheenver i add data to B2 , i want excel to autowrite today's date in A2 as static data.

        ctrl+;
        is manuel, can we do it autowrite?

        1. Hi! If the recommendations given to you earlier do not suit you, try writing and using VBA code. There are no other standard Excel features.

  8. Hi,
    How to show on the day of the month, in today() formula.
    example: 22 /11/22 ( November 22, 2022), i want to show or extract only the date of month which 22.
    thank you

  9. The date returned by the TODAY function in Excel updates automatically when your worksheet is recalculated to reflect the current date, which function I should use so that the return date can be fixed.
    For example when x=y then return date , and this date should be fixed.
    could you please help me in this.
    Thanks in advance

    1. Hello!
      To prevent your date from automatically changing, you can use several methods:
      1. Use the recommendations from this article in our blog.
      2. Replace the date and time returned by the TODAY function with their values. Copy the date (CTRL + C), then paste only the values using Paste Special or Shortcut CTRL + ALT + V.

  10. If the total amount is more than rs. 100000 then payment date will be 15 days after inword date

  11. Is it possible to have: If past today's date add a predefined text in another cell.

    For Example
    Cell A: Date is yesterday
    Cell B: "Expired" text is automatically added

      1. Thank you so much, Alexander.

  12. If in A column has today's date, and there are some text data in b column which needs to be captured in C column only if its a today date,

    How can we do that ?

  13. I have subsheet where, daily dates written from A1 to Z1 row & below that, in row A2 to Z2 respective figure of data on that particular day in number. I want to show the value of today in my main sheet as per the today's date value i have mentioned in my subsheet. Please help.

  14. Hi, Can anyone help, please? If I have column B for due dates and Column C for amounts and I need to sum up amounts base on their days delayed (todays date - due date) to over 120, <120, <90, <60, <30 and current

      1. Thanks a lot! :-)

  15. Hi Alexander Trifuntov, or somebody from the Ablebits Team,

    would you please help me with a function to display time/date in cell "C" if there's an input either in cell "A" *or* "B", as of now I found this formula that works well:

    =IF(A2"",IF(C2="",NOW(),C2),"")

    but it's only when something's input in "A". I haven't been able to modify it to check and work if instead of "A", a value in "B" is also inserted. Much appreciated your help. ?

    1. 00/01/1900 00:00:00

  16. I need the words FILE CLAIM to appear in the cell on a certain date (value in Column B) and STAY there until I remove it.

    Right now, it appears on the date in Column B but disappears after the date passes.
    I tried the following and it didn't work:

    =IF(B2=(TODAY()+20),"FILE CLAIM","")

    Any suggestions? Thanks!

    1. Hello!
      If I got you right, you can change the condition. Instead of the = sign, write >=.

      =IF(B2>=(TODAY()+20),”FILE CLAIM”,””)

      Hope this is what you need.

  17. Help Please,

    my current formula for column B =IF(TODAY()-A5<=1460,"Current", "Overdue"). I need column B to say "overdue" if the date is greater then 1 year.

    Thank you.

  18. Hello!
    I would like a formula using today that will also include the day of the week. For, example right now I am using =today()+7 if I have an assignment do the next week, but I would also like to know what day of the week that is. Thank you.

  19. Hello, I would like a formula that will autopopulate todays date in cell A2 when cell A1 is filled with any value/text. Is there a formula I could use?

  20. I have dates in column a, I need dates in column b that represent the date in column a conditionally. If date in column a is today or before then column b needs to be today’s date. If the date in column a is in the future then column b needs to stay that date.

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