Comments on: Excel TODAY function to insert today's date and more

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. Continue reading →

Comments page 2. Total comments: 124

  1. 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.

  2. Hey everyone,

    I have a spreadsheet that I use as a master template everyday and save a new copy once I have input the data I need. My issue is sometimes I will open the file at 7pm and save the copy after midnight.

    Is there a way to use TODAY() to generate the day of business and not refresh itself after midnight as 'the next day'? Also can I save the file without having it change the date on me if I open a copy to look back at that days data?

    Thanks for your help!

  3. =TEXT(TODAY(),"DD mm/dd/yyyy")&" " & IF(HOUR(NOW())>12,HOUR(NOW())-12,HOUR(NOW()))&IF(MINUTE(NOW())11," pm"," am")

    Gives it all in one cell Example:
    DD mm/dd/yy
    Sun 11/07/21 6:13pm

    1. Hello!
      If I understand your task correctly, the following formula should work for you:

      =TEXT(TODAY(),"DDD mm/dd/yyyy")&" "&IF(HOUR(NOW())>12,HOUR(NOW())-12,HOUR(NOW()))&IF(MINUTE(NOW())*11," pm"," am")

  4. 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.

  5. 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.

  6. 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?

  7. 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.

    1. Hi!
      If I understand your task correctly, the following formula should work for you:

      =IF(A1 < = TODAY(),TODAY(),A1)

  8. I have 20 executives Names in column A and entered their date wise plan for sales for month row 1
    ( Column wise B to AE ) now I want to check cumulative plan at any random day,
    here I want formula to show me addition in Column AF from day 1 to till that day and automatically update when I open spread sheet next day.
    Pl help

  9. Good afternoon,

    I am having an issue that hopefully you could help with. I currently have a spreadsheet to track when I need to return to a product to perform the next step. Each step has a different length of time. Currently, I input the length of the step time in column B. Column E has the current time using "=Now", Column D calculates the time the step will finish "=SUM (B1 + E1)". I then manually enter the time in Column A so the time will not change when the spreadsheet updates. I would like to not have to manually enter the completion time (Column A) each time I enter a new step time length, yet I do not want to have to change the current time (Column E) each time either. Is there a solution? Thank you for any help you can provide.

    1. Hello!
      If I correctly understood the problem, you need to insert the current date so that it does not change.
      I recommend using this comment.
      I hope this will help, otherwise please do not hesitate to contact me anytime.

  10. Hi Can anyone help? How can i default a date in to a cell one year on e.g. cell 3A = 15/03/2021 and i want cell 3B to default to 15/03/2022?

  11. Hi,

    I need to write a formula to print the current date in the same cell once someone starts typing in it. For example, if today is 3/13/2021, and someone starts typing in this cell, I want the cell to then automatically fill in the current date, then a dash (or some other kind of separator) and then it will have their text displayed.

    If I wanted to type "No additional updates" in a cell, the cell would then print "3/9/2021 - No additional updates"

  12. Good Morning,

    I have tried to find an answer to the question below, within the above thread, but cannot find the solution.

    We use excel to create quote, and I have used the =today formula, but do not want it to change when we open the quote on a future date - is there a method to do this

    TIA

    Neil

    1. Hello!
      To prevent your date from automatically changing, you can use several methods:
      1. Use Shortcuts to insert the current date and time
      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.
      I hope it’ll be helpful.

  13. Hello

    I have an excel sheet with numbers in column V and dates in column P. The formula
    =SUMIFS(V2:V90,P2:P90,"17/12/2020") gives the correct answer but when I try to use the TODAY() function such as =SUMIFS(V2:V90,P2:P90,"=TODAY()") all I get is zero. Today's date is 17/12/2020. How do I use the TODAY() function to get the right answer? I need it to be flexible so I can use TODAY()-1, TODAY()-2 etc. as well.
    Thank you for any help.

    1. You can use: =SUMIFS(V2:V90,P2:P90,"="&TODAY())

  14. Hi there, and thank you very much for all the hints above. Although I have a question:
    how could I simply insert this result:
    Tue. 22 Feb 2021
    this should be semi-automatic. i.e. it should be easy to make a table of such string.

  15. Hello, I have a spreadsheet where there are contract end dates entered in column F. I would like to set up a rule, so that any contract end date that is earlier than TODAY's date is highlighted. It sounds like a simple thing to do but I've looked at different sources and tried setting up some conditional formatting but still haven't managed to make it work for me. Thank you.

  16. Greetings!
    I am creating a spreadsheet, I know how to make today's date appear in a cell and update every day that i open the spreadsheet. I would also like the day of the week to appear in the next cell over that corresponds with the date, which would also update every time i open the spreadsheet. How do i do this? Thank you in advance.

    1. Hello Josie!
      Read the section above carefully - How to insert today's date in Excel. How to determine the day of the week, read here.
      I hope my advice will help you solve your task.

  17. Hi
    please tell me how can get data & time only first time like if I use now() function so it will go to change but I don't want change I just want one timing which time I put text in columns

    1. Hello Gurpreet!
      Replace the formulas with values. Just copy the cell(s) with your date (CTRL+C), then use Paste Special (CTRL+ALT+V) to insert values.

  18. I'm working with a spreadsheet to track scholarship. Is there a way for me to have column/cell that updates with the static date of when it was awarded or is going to the field and pressing CTRL+; the only option.

    1. Hello Mel!
      There are two ways to write a static value to a cell: 1. You do it yourself manually. 2. This is done by the program using VBA

  19. Hello

    I'm using the following formula =(VLOOKUP(MAXIFS(Form1!$B:$B,Form1!$I:$I,$B20),Form1!$B:$BJ,15,0))
    to return a value based on the most recent date (in column b). I now need to return a value from the same column, but for the next most recent date. Basically the values which are being returned are meter readings and I need to be able to return the most recent and the one prior to that so that I can subtract one from the other and calculate a volume.
    Would be most grateful for any assistance.

    1. Hello Stephen!
      You use the formula

      MAXIFS(Form1!$B:$B,Form1!$I:$I,$B20)

      to search for the most recent date. Replace it with the formula

      LARGE(IF(Form1!$I:$I=$B20,Form1!$B:$B,0),1)

      To search for the previous date, replace 1 with 2. That is

      LARGE(IF(Form1!$I:$I=$B20,Form1!$B:$B,0),2)

      I hope this will help, otherwise please do not hesitate to contact me anytime.

  20. Hi can someone please help. I want a cell to have today's date in, TODAY(), only if another cell is completed. So we only need today's date if a start date has been entered already. Can someone help me with the formular. Many thanks

    1. Hello Donna!
      If I understand your task correctly, the following formula should work for you:

      =IF(A1 <> "",TODAY(),"")

      I hope this will help

  21. Hi,
    I need a formula for today date in Excel and if I open the same sheet then Date should remain same as yesterday..

  22. Excellent information expressed in the simplest of manners. Thanks.
    I am trying to keep track of my savings. I have a current balance, a standard monthly addition and a balance-to-date column. I want the balance-to-date to add the standard monthly addition on the 27th of every month for different savings. Can you assist?

    1. Hello Jason,

      Thank you for your feedback! If you want to increase the value in let's say A1 to a particular amount (1000, for example), you may do it with the help of the following formula:

      =IF(TODAY() = DATE(YEAR(TODAY()), MONTH(TODAY()),27), A1+1000,A1)

      Or just replace 1000 with the necessary value or cell reference and hit Enter. It'll do the trick.

      1. Worked like a charm. Thank you very much Alexander! Keep safe.

  23. Hi I am looking for a formula for:

    If I have a dates in column A. Column B, sometimes it is either left blank or has a date.
    I want to populate a formula that shows how long from today's date OR if there's a date in Column B, therefore it should choose that date in Column B, but not today's date, so if Column B had no date, it will choose today's date.

    Is that possible?

  24. hello experts,
    is there any formula to get the monthly date from cell A1 to A30/31?
    for example:
    A1= 1/10/2019
    A2=2/10/2019
    .
    A31 =31/10/2019

  25. Hello, thanks for the post! It is very informative.
    I am working on a budget spreadsheet and I am trying to find the correct syntax for an IF ELSE formula for Excel. Here is my formula:
    IF(TODAY()>06/01/2019,G10-G11,"Not EOM")
    The goal is to have the program give the difference between income (G10) and expenses (G11) AFTER the end of the month. It doesn't seem to be recognizing the ">" sign. For it gives G10-G11. Can you help? Thanks!

    1. Not sure if your question was ever answered, but you could consider using the number format of the date, in your case 43471. This is how excel uses dates in calculations, and so may aid you.
      i.e.
      IF(TODAY()>43471,G10-G11,"Not EOM")

      Cheers,
      D

  26. Guys,
    I have all the dates for the year in column A starting in cell A2 from 01-Jan-19 through to 31-Dec-19. I used your guidance to create a rule to highlight the current day (thanks). I would like to create a rule so that all of the days that are now past would be in a gray text colour, whereas the current date and future dates remain in a black font colour. Any advice much appreciated.

    1. =C1:C99<TODAY()-30

      this has highlighted for me the dates that are 30 days past from today. I use this in my outreach sheet to keep relationships current

  27. How do I auto fill just the current Month?Like December, January or February in a cell every time I open the document? I am making forms that I only want the month not today's date

    1. Hello, Jim:
      To enter the current month in a cell enter this formula in the cell:
      =TEXT(TODAY(),"mmmm")

  28. Hi,

    How do you add the time to the Excel formula for today's date? Using the formula,

    =CONCATENATE("Today is: ",TEXT(TODAY(), "dd mmmm yyyy hh:mm:ss"))

    I get "Today is: 25 October 2018 00:00:00" -- and not the current time, no matter what time it is. Even after reading many, many, websites on this topic, I am still confused (or rather, more confused), and I'm not really sure how the time stamp can still be added.

    Thanks and much appreciated,
    R

    1. Use NOW(), not TODAY(). TODAY() is only the date, NOW() includes the time.

  29. I have a column of dates with some empty cells - how can i fill in all the empty cells with today's DATE?

    1. Mandi:
      TODAY() will give you today's date. If you enter this function in a cell, the cell will always display the current date.

  30. HI Steve
    can you suggest me a formula, where i need current date in date coloum if i make any change in that particular Row.

    6-May-18 . Linson N/A N/A 20-Jun-17 20-Jun-17

    so if make any change in any details by previous date (6-May-18) should become current date.

    1. Linson:
      I believe if you want a cell to update based on change to another cell it requires some code. In this case I think you could use some VBA, but VBA is not in this blog's frame. If you wanted to tackle this you could google "excel update cell if another cell changes".

  31. Hello Svetlana, where you're from, Ukraine or Russia? :)
    Nice job!
    Thanks you dear...

    1. Thank you, Louis. I'm from Belarus :)

      1. Thanks its help me a lot

  32. Can you help please? I have a spreadsheet on which I want to do the following: if I enter a number in a cell in Col A I want the adjacent cell in Col B to return a date which is today plus 21 days. If no number is entered in a cell in Col A I want the adjacent cell in Col B to remain blank. So:
    Col A Col B
    2 today's date + 21 days is returned

    3 today's date + 21 days is returned
    1 today's date + 21 days is returned

    1. Can we get a trend of values based on today fuction.I am using the todays value to divide expenses to get the average expenses daily

    2. Hi Steve,

      Supposing your data begins in row 2, you enter the following formula in B2, and then copy it down the column:
      =IF(ISNUMBER(A2), TODAY()+21, "")

      1. Thanks you much , its more useful.

Post a comment



Thanks for your comment! Please note that all comments are pre-moderated, and off-topic ones may be deleted.
For faster help, please keep your question clear and concise. While we can't guarantee a reply to every question, we'll do our best to respond :)