Learning Excel: Dates
Dates are numbers
The Timeline tab has every deadline up to the big day. To you, the wedding is on 12 June 2027, but Excel sees something else. Know what it sees and you can calculate with it.
A date is a number
Excel stores a date as the number of days since 1 January 1900. The wedding day in B7 is day 46550. The cell's format turns it into a date.
C7 holds =B7. Column C has a number format, so there you see the number itself.
=B7
| A | B | C | D | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | What | Date | Number | Date |
| 2 | Book the venue | 11/15/2026 | ||
| 3 | Send the invitations | 1/30/2027 | ||
| 4 | Menu tasting | 3/6/2027 | ||
| 5 | RSVP deadline | 4/10/2027 | ||
| 6 | Dress fitting | 5/8/2027 | ||
| 7 | Wedding | 6/12/2027 | 46,550 | |
| 8 | Ellie born | 3/14/1996 | ||
| 9 | Thomas born | 11/2/1994 | ||
| 10 |
YEAR, MONTH, DAY and DATE
YEAR, MONTH and DAY take one part out of a date: =MONTH(B7) gives 6, because the wedding is in June. DATE does the reverse: =DATE(2027,6,12) makes a date out of a year, a month and a day.
TODAY gives today's date, without arguments: =TODAY(). Tomorrow, the same formula gives tomorrow's date.
=MONTH(B7)
| A | B | C | D | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | What | Date | Number | Date |
| 2 | Book the venue | 11/15/2026 | ||
| 3 | Send the invitations | 1/30/2027 | ||
| 4 | Menu tasting | 3/6/2027 | ||
| 5 | RSVP deadline | 4/10/2027 | ||
| 6 | Dress fitting | 5/8/2027 | ||
| 7 | Wedding | 6/12/2027 | 6 | |
| 8 | Ellie born | 3/14/1996 | ||
| 9 | Thomas born | 11/2/1994 | ||
| 10 |
Try it yourself
What year was Ellie born? Put it in C8.
| A | B | C | D | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | What | Date | Number | Date |
| 2 | Book the venue | 11/15/2026 | ||
| 3 | Send the invitations | 1/30/2027 | ||
| 4 | Menu tasting | 3/6/2027 | ||
| 5 | RSVP deadline | 4/10/2027 | ||
| 6 | Dress fitting | 5/8/2027 | ||
| 7 | Wedding | 6/12/2027 | ||
| 8 | Ellie born | 3/14/1996 | ||
| 9 | Thomas born | 11/2/1994 | ||
| 10 |
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The full lesson has 5 exercises, from easy to challenging, with hints, points and a streak you can build.
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