Current date and time in Excel are essential for keeping your data up-to-date and relevant. By utilizing functions like NOW and TODAY, you can automatically update your spreadsheets with the latest timestamps, ensuring that your financial models, project schedules, and reports reflect the most current information. Mastering how to insert and use the current date and time in Excel not only streamlines workflow but also enhances the accuracy and efficiency of your data management. Integrate these functions into your regular Excel tasks to maintain precise and timely data across all your projects.
- What is the current date and time in Excel?
- What is the Excel date function?
- How to use Today functions in Excel?
- How to use Now functions in Excel?
- How to use Text function in Excel?
- How to use Day function in Excel?
- How to use Month function in Excel?
- How to use Year function in Excel?
1. What is the current date and time in Excel?
This Excel function use for find the date and time value of any kind of data from excel information. For find this value, those two formulae is used to get the exact value of date and time: those are
NOW function: This function inserts the current date and time into a cell. It updates automatically whenever the worksheet is opened or recalculated. The format will depend on your system settings but typically includes date, hour, and minutes.
TODAY function: This function inserts only the current date (no time) into a cell. It also updates automatically when the worksheet is opened or recalculated.
2. What is the Excel date function?
The most common Excel date function is DATE. It allows you to construct a specific date by providing the year, month, and day as separate arguments. Here’s the breakdown:
Syntax: =DATE(year, month, day)
Year: (Required) This can be a number representing the year or a cell reference containing the year value.
Month: (Required) This is a number between 1 (January) and 12 (December). You can also use a cell reference containing the month value.
Day: (Required) This is a number between 1 and 31 (depending on the month) representing the day. You can also use a cell reference containing the day value.
3. How to use Today functions in Excel?
Because TODAY has no arguments at all, it’s perhaps one of the easiest Excel functions to use. In Excel, type the following formula in a cell whenever you need to get the current date.
Here are some steps to find today’s value:
Step 1: Create a table and name it as the current date.
Created the table here.
Step 2: Add a column B2 to get the today’s value.
Added the column here.
Step 3: Here is today’s formula. You just refer to the today function in Excel otherwise, you do not need any kind of cell reference. The formula is: =TODAY()
Step 4: In the end, hit enter to get the today’s date.
Here is the result below.
4. How to use Now functions in Excel?
The current date and time are returned by the NOW() method. It has no disagreements, and neither does it have today. To include the current date and time in your worksheet, just enter the following formula in a cell:
Step 1: Make a table and name it as the Now(Date & Time).
Formed the column here.
Step 2: Add a column B2 to get the Now value.
The column has been added here.
Step 3: You just refer to the Now function in Excel otherwise, you do not need any kind of cell reference. The formula is: =NOW()
Placed the formula here.
Step 4: Now press enter to get the today’s value. You will get the present date and time there.
Here is the Now value below.
5. How to use Text function in Excel?
Since the TEXT function may convert any numeric value not just dates to a text string, it cannot be strictly speaking be categorized as an Excel date function. As seen in the following screenshot, you can convert the dates to text strings in several forms using the TEXT(value, format_text) function.
Step 1: Take some dates and make a table with those dates.
Written down the dates into the Excel sheet here.
Step 2: Add a column in B1:B5 to get the Text value.
Added the column here.
Step 3: Here is the Text formula. You just refer to the Text function and refer value A5 as well as put how you sought to the value like “d-mmm-yy” and “d,mmm,yy” as same as below formula then put in one. The formula is: =TEXT(A5,”d-mmm-yy”)
Used the formula here.
Step 4: Press enter and the result will come out.
Here is the result below of TEXT function.
Step 5: Now, use the same formula as from step-3 or drag-down the cursor from B3.
Here are all the results.
6. How to use Day function in Excel?
The day of the month is returned as an integer between 1 and 31 by the DAY(serial_number) method.
The date that corresponds to the day you are attempting to obtain is serial_number. It may be a date that is input using the DAY function, a cell reference, or the result of another calculation.
Here are some steps:
Step 1: Take some dates and make a table with those dates.
Place the dates here.
Step 2: Add a column A2:A5 to get the Day value.
Added the column here.
Step 3: You can simply refer DAY formula and refer to the cell number as in as below picture. Formula: =DAY(A2)
The formula has been used here you can see it below.
Step 4: After using the formula press enter to get the Day value.
Here is the day number below 15. This means 15 days of that month are going
Step 5: Use the same formula for the other 4 columns.
Here are all the results.
7. How to use Month function in Excel?
MONTH(serial_number) function in Excel returns the month of a specified date as an integer.
Step 1: Make a data table with some dates.
Entered the dates here.
Step 2: Now, you need to add another column from B1:B5 to get the month value.
Added the column here.
Step 3: You can simply refer MONTH formula and refer to the cell number as in as below picture. Here is the formula: =MONTH(A2)
You can see below the formula has been used here.
Step 4: In the end, hit enter to get the Day value.
Here is the result below.
Step 5: Now, drag down the excel cursor from here or use the same formula from step 3 as shown below.
Here are the results. All the results are 3 because here has been used the same month for every dates.
8. How to use Year function in Excel?
YEAR(serial_number) yields a number between 1900 and 9999 that represents the year that corresponds to a given date.
When utilizing the Excel YEAR function for date calculations, you won’t have many problems because it is quite simple to use.
Step 1: Create a table with some dates as shown below.
Placed the dates into the table here.
Step 2: Add a column B1:B5 to get the YEAR value.
You can see below the column has been added here.
Step 3: You can simply refer YEAR formula and refer the cell number as in as below picture. The formula is: =YEAR(A2)
Entered the formula here.
Step 4: In the end, hit enter to get the Year value.
The result is outlined below.
Step 5: Now, use the same formula as from step-3 or drag-down the cursor from B3.
You can see all the results are outlined below.
Application of Current date and time in Excel
- Timestamping Entries: Automatically insert the current date and time to track when data entries or updates are made, providing a clear audit trail for tracking changes over time.
- Due Date Reminders: Use the current date to calculate and display due dates or deadlines for tasks and projects, helping manage schedules and ensure timely completion.
- Time-Sensitive Calculations: Perform calculations that depend on the current date, such as age from a birthdate, time until expiration, or accruals, ensuring calculations are always up to date.
- Dynamic Reports: Update financial, sales, or activity reports dynamically with the current date and time to ensure that all data presented is relevant and current.
- Validity Checks: Validate data or actions based on the current date, such as checking if a coupon is still valid or if a subscription needs renewal.
- Performance Metrics: Calculate performance metrics over time by comparing the current date to historical data, assessing trends and progress effectively.
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