How To Stop Today Function Date Changing Every Day In Excel

In This Chapter

Agreement how Excel handles dates
Formatting dates
Working with days, months, and years
Getting the value of Today Determining the mean solar day of the calendar week
When working with Excel, you need to manage dates. Perhaps you have list of dates when you visited a client and you need to count how many times you were at that place in September. On the other paw, perhaps y'all are tracking a project over a few months, and desire to know how many days are in betwixt the milestones.
Excel has a number of useful Date functions to brand your work easier! This chapter explains how to work with parts of a date, such equally the calendar month or year, and fifty-fifty how to count the number of days between two dates. You can always reference the electric current data from your computer'due south clock and utilize it in a adding.

Understanding How Excel Handles Dates

Imagine if, on January 1, 1900, you lot starting counting by ones, each 24-hour interval adding one more to the total. This is simply how Excel thinks of dates. Jan 1, 1900, is one; January 2, 1900, is two; and so on. We'll always call up 25,404 as the mean solar day human get-go walked on the moon, and 36,892 every bit the showtime of the new millennium!

The millennium actually started on January 1, 2001. The yr 2000 is the concluding year of the 20th century.

Excel represents dates as a serial number — specifically, the number of days between January one, 1900, and the engagement in question. Excel tin handle dates from January one, 1900 to December 31, 9999. Using the serial numbering system,that'due south 1 through 2,958,465!
Considering Excel represents dates in this manner, it tin can work with dates in the same way as numbers. For example, you can subtract i date from another to detect out how many days are between them. Likewise, you can add 14 to today's date to become a engagement two weeks in the future. This trick is very useful just people are used to seeing dates represented in traditional formats, not as numbers. Fortunately, Excel has the tools for date formatting also.

In Excel for the Mac, the serial numbering system begins on January 1, 1904.

The mode years are handled requires special mention. When a twelvemonth is fully displayed in four digits, such as 2005, there is no ambiguity. However, when a date is written in a shorthand fashion, such as in 3/1/02, information technology isn't clear what the yr is. It could be 2002, or it could exist 1902. Let'south say 3/ane/02 is a shorthand entry for someone'southward birthday. Then on March i, 2005, he is either three years old or 103 years old. In some countries this would exist January 3, 1902 or Jan 3, 2002.
Excel and the Windows operating system have a default style of interpreting shorthand years. Windows 2000 and after has a setting in the Customize Regional Options dialog box institute in the Control Panel. Here's how to open and set it:
1. Click on your computer's Start button.
2. Select Control Panel.
3. Select Regional and Language Options.
iv. In the Regional and Linguistic communication Options dialog box, select the Regional Options tab if information technology is not selected past default.
5. Click the Customize push.
The Customize Regional Options dialog box appears.
6. Select the Date tab in the Customize Regional Options dialog box.
7. Enter a four-digit ending yr (such as 2029) to bespeak the latest year that will exist used when interpreting a ii-digit year.
8. Click OK to close each dialog box.
This setting guides how Excel will interpret years. So if the setting is 1930 through 2029, then 3/1/02 indicates the year 2002, but 3/1/45 indicates the year 1945, not 2045. Figure 12-one shows this setting.

Figure 12-i:
Setting how years are interpreted.
To ensure full accuracy when working with dates, e'er enter the total four digits for the twelvemonth.

Formatting Dates

When you work with dates, you'll probably demand to format cells in your worksheet. It'south great that Excel tells you that June ane, 2005, is serially represented as 38504, merely nosotros don't think that's what you desire on a report. To format dates, you use the Format Cells dialog box, shown in Effigy 12-2. To format dates, follow these steps:
i. Choose Format O Cells.
The Format Cells dialog box appears.
ii. Select the Number tab in the Format Cells dialog box if it is not already selected.
3. Select Appointment in the Category List.
4. Select an appropriate format in the Type List.
At present yous can turn the useful but pesky serial dates into a user-friendly format.

Figure 12-two:
Using the Format Cells dialog box to command how dates are displayed.

Assembling a Date with the Appointment Function

You can apply the DATE office to create a complete engagement when you have separate twelvemonth, month, and twenty-four hours information. The Date function can be useful because dates don't e'er appear as, well, dates, in a worksheet. Yous may have a column of values between 1 and 12 that represents the month, and some other cavalcade of values between 1 and 31 for the twenty-four hour period of the month. A 3rd cavalcade may hold years — in either the two-digit shorthand or the full four digits.

The Date function combines private 24-hour interval, month, and year components into a unmarried usable date. This makes using and referencing dates in your worksheet piece of cake. To use the DATE function:

ane. Select the prison cell where you lot want the results displayed.
two. Enter =DATE( to begin the function entry.
3. Click the cell that has the year.
four. Enter a comma (,).
v. Click the cell that has the number (ane-12) that represents the month.
half-dozen. Enter a comma (,).
7. Click the cell that has the number (1-31) that represents the day of the month.
8. Enter a endmost parenthesis to end the function, and press Enter.
Figure 12-iii displays a fourth column of dates that are created using DATE and the values from the first three columns. The quaternary column of dates has been formatted so the dates are displayed in a standard format, not as a raw date serial number.

Figure 12-3:
Using the DATE function to get together a appointment from separate month, day, and year values.

Breaking Apart a Date with the Mean solar day, Month, and YEAR Functions

That which can be put together can likewise be taken apart. In the preceding department, we show yous how to use the DATE part to create a date from separate twelvemonth, calendar month, and day data. In this section, you lot notice out how to do the reverse — carve up a date into individual year, month, and day components using the 24-hour interval, Month, and YEAR functions. In Figure 12-4, the dates in cavalcade A are split autonomously past day, calendar month, and year, respectively, in columns B, C, and D.

Isolating the mean solar day with the DAY function

Isolating the day part of a date is useful in applications where just the twenty-four hour period, but not the month or yr, is relevant. For example, say you own a store and desire to effigy out if more customers come to shop in the first one-half or the second half of the month. You're interested in this trend over several months. So the task may be to boilerplate the number of sales past the solar day of the month only.

Figure 12-iv:
Splitting autonomously a date with the DAY, Calendar month, and YEAR functions.
The Day function is useful for this considering you tin can utilize information technology to render just the solar day for a lengthy list of dates. And so you can examine results by the day only.

Here's how y'all use the DAY role:

1. Position the mouse in the cell where you want the results displayed.
2. Enter =Twenty-four hours( to begin the office entry.
three. Click the prison cell that has the date.
4. Enter a endmost parenthesis to end the function, and press Enter.

Excel returns a number between one and 31.

Effigy 12-5 shows how the 24-hour interval office tin can be used to analyze customer activeness. Column A contains a full year'due south sequential dates. In Cavalcade B, the 24-hour interval office of each date has been isolated. Column C shows the customer traffic for each day.
This is all the data that is needed to analyze whether in that location is a difference in the amount of customer traffic betwixt the first half and second half of the month.
Cells E4 and E10 evidence the average daily client traffic for the outset half and second half of the calendar month, respectively. The value for the offset one-half of the month was obtained by adding all the customer values for those twenty-four hours values in the range 1 to 15, and so dividing by the total number of days. The value for the second half of the month was done the same mode, but using 24-hour interval values in the range 16 to 31.

Figure 12-5:
Using the DAY role to analyze customer activeness.
The day parts of the dates, in Column B, were key to these calculations:
' In jail cell E4 the adding is =SUMIF(B2:B367,"<16″,C2:C367)/COUNT IF(B2:B367″<16″).
' In prison cell E10 the calculation is =SUMIF(B2:B367,">fifteen″,C2:C367)/COUNT IF(B2:B367,">xv″).
The SUMIF function is discussed in Affiliate seven. The COUNTIF role is discussed in Chapter 11.
The DAY function has been instrumental in showing that more than customers visit the fictitious shop in the second half of the calendar month. This blazon of data is corking for a shop possessor to program staff assignments, sales specials, and so on.

Isolating the month with the Calendar month function

Isolating the month part of a date is useful in applications where just the calendar month, but not the solar day or year, is relevant. For example, y'all may have a list of random dates and need to determine the number of dates that fall in each of the 12 months.
You could sort the dates and then count the number for each month. That would exist easy enough, but sorting may non be an option based on other requirements. Besides, why manually count when y'all accept right in front of you one of the all-time greatest counting software programs ever made!
Figure 12-half dozen shows a worksheet in which the MONTH function has been used to extract the numeric month value (1-12) into Column B from the dates in Column A. Jail cell B2 contains the formula =MONTH(A2) and and so on down the column. Columns C and D contain a summary of dates per month. The formula used in cell D3 is:

This counts the number of dates where the month value is 1. Cells D4 through D14 contain similar formulas for month values two through 12.

Figure 12-6:
Using the MONTH function to count the number of dates falling in each calendar month.

See Chapter 14 for information on the COUNTIF role.

In Figure 12-6, the dates in Cavalcade A are random, so discerning much near the dates is difficult. Still, the summary, also as the chart based on the summary, show that more dates appear in the winter months (assuming yous're in the Northern Hemisphere).

To use the MONTH part:

1. Select the jail cell where you desire the results displayed.
2. Enter =MONTH( to begin the function entry.
3. Click the cell that has the date.
4. Enter a closing parenthesis to end the function, and press Enter.
Excel returns a number betwixt one and 12.

Isolating the year with the Twelvemonth function

Isolating the year role of a appointment is useful in applications where just the year, but non the twenty-four hours or month, is relevant. In practice, this is less used than the Twenty-four hours or Month functions considering date data is often — though not always — from the same year.

To employ the Yr function:

1. Select the cell where y'all want the results displayed.
2. Enter =Twelvemonth( to begin the function entry.
3. Click the cell that has the appointment.
four. Enter a closing parenthesis to cease the part, and press Enter.
Excel returns the iv-digit year.

Using DATEVALUE to Convert a Text Date into a Numerical Engagement

You may accept information in your worksheet that looks like a date simply is not represented as an Excel date value. For case, you could enter the text "01-14-04″ in a cell, and Excel would have no mode of knowing whether this is January 14, 2004, or the code for your combination lock. Don't tell anyone! But if it looks like a date, you can use the DATEVALUE part to catechumen information technology into an Excel date value.
Why non enter dates every bit text data? Because although they may await fine, you can't employ them for any of Excel's powerful date calculations without outset converting them to date values.
The DATEVALUE role recognizes almost all commonly used ways that dates are written. Here are some ways that people may enter August 5, 2005:
8/5/05
v-Aug-2005 2005/08/05
DATEVALUE can convert these and several other date representations to a engagement serial number.
After you've converted the dates to a date series number, the dates can exist used in other date formulas or to perform calculations as described in other parts of this affiliate.

To apply the DATEVALUE function, follow these steps:

1. Select the cell where y'all desire the date serial number located.
2. Enter =DATEVALUE( to begin the part entry.
3. Click the prison cell that has the text format date.
4. Enter a closing parenthesis to end the office, and printing Enter.
The result will be a date serial number, unless the cell where the result is displayed has already been set to a engagement format.
Figure 12-7 shows how some nonstandard dates in Column A have been converted with the DATEVALUE role.

Figure 12-vii:
Converting dates into their serial equivalents with the DATEVALUE function.
Did you detect something funny in Figure 12-7? Normally, yous won't exist able to enter a value such as the ane in cell A4 — 02-28-06 — without losing the leading zero. The cells in Column A had been inverse to the Text format. This format tells Excel to leave your entry as it is. The Text format is one of the choices in the Category listing in the Format Cells dialog box (refer to Figure 12-2).
In reality, you won't need DATEVALUE too frequently because Excel is pretty good at recognizing dates that y'all enter in the standard formats. If, for case, you lot enter "12/5/04″ in a jail cell, Excel recognizes that this is meant as a date and not as text. It'southward automatically converted to a date serial number and displayed using the default date format. DATEVALUE is used about often when yous're importing text data from some other application and Excel fails to perform the automatic conversion.
Please expect dorsum at Figure 12-7, specifically at prison cell B8. Excel could not effigy out how to interpret the February 9 05 value in jail cell A8. Therefore, cell B8 shows an error. We did say Excel is great at recognizing dates, but nosotros did not say information technology is perfect! In cases such as this, you'll have to edit the engagement to put it into a format that DATEVALUE can recognize.

Using the TODAY Office to Detect Out the Current Date

Ofttimes, when working in Excel, you demand to use the current date. Each time a worksheet is printed, for instance, you lot may desire it to prove the appointment it was printed. The TODAY office fills the pecker perfectly for this. TODAY simply get the date from your calculator'southward internal clock. To utilize the TODAY function, follow these steps:
i. Position the mouse to the cell where you desire the upshot.
two. Type =TODAY( ).
3. Press Enter to end the function.
That's it! You lot now have the date from your figurer. If your computer'south clock is non fix correctly, don't arraign Excel. Like all dates in Excel, what you really end up with is a serial number, but the Date formatting displays the date in a readable fashion.
As with all functions in Excel, you lot can embed functions in other functions. So, for example, if you need to know simply the calendar month of the current date, y'all can combine the TODAY function with the Month office, similar this:

Counting the number of days until Christmas

Take a bit of shopping left to do for the holidays? Excel can help keep rail of how many days are left. Remember that Excel is able to perform mathematical operations on dates. So let Excel exercise the counting. This formula, entered in a cell, tells you lot how many days are left until Christmas 2005:

The formula assumes you're counting days in the twelvemonth 2005. Change the twelvemonth reference as needed.
The Appointment function is used to enter the day, month, and yr of Christmas. This avoids having a shorthand entry, such as 12/25/2005 exist interpreted equally a mathematical operation on its own.
If the entry was =12/25/2005 – TODAY(), an incorrect answer would be calculated; because this effectively says, "Divide 12 past 25, so divide that result by 2005, then decrease the serial number of today's appointment." The answer would be incorrect.
Using the Date office to stand for dates in which a mathematical operation is performed is a skilful idea.

Counting your age, in days

Sometimes yous're asked how old you are. Perchance y'all'd rather non say. Hither's a way to tell merely in a way that will still leave the person who asked you unsure of the answer. Answer by maxim how quondam yous are in days!
Excel can assist effigy this out. All you accept to do is count the number of days between your nascence date and the current date. A simple formula tells yous this:

Just substitute your real nascency year, month, and twenty-four hours into the formula.

Determining the Twenty-four hours of the Calendar week with the WEEKDAY Function

The Beatles wrote a song chosen "Eight Days a Calendar week," but for the remainder of us 7 days is the norm. The WEEKDAY role helps you figure out which day of the week a engagement falls on. Using this function, yous can discover out what day of the week an upcoming event volition occur on, such as what day your altogether will autumn on next year.

Here is how you use the WEEKDAY function:

1. Select the cell where you lot want the results displayed.
2. Enter =WEEKDAY( to brainstorm the function entry.
3. Select the cell that has the engagement you want to observe out the weekday for.
4. Enter a endmost parenthesis to end the function, and printing Enter.
WEEKDAY returns a number between 1 and 7. Table 12-i shows what the returned number ways.

Table 12-ane	WEEKDAY Returned Values
Returned Value	Weekday
ane Sunday
2	Monday
iii	Tuesday
4	Wednesday
5	Thursday
6	Friday
7	Sat

Don't confuse the returned numbers with bodily dates! Just because, in Table 12-1, a value of 4 indicates a Midweek doesn't hateful the fourth of a month is a Wednesday. The values of the returned numbers are likewise a bit confusing because most people consider Monday, not Sun, to be the first twenty-four hour period of the week. Y'all can become argue the indicate with Microsoft if yous similar!
The numbers 1 through 7 that are returned from the WEEKDAY function are not the aforementioned as the first through seventh of the month.
The WEEKDAY function lets you lot excerpt interesting information from appointment-related information. For example, maybe you're on a diet and you're keeping a tally of how many calories yous consume each day for a month. And then you lot first wondering — are y'all eating more on weekends than on weekdays? Figure 12-8 shows a worksheet that calculates the average calories consumed on each twenty-four hours of the week over a month'south time. A quick glance at the results shows that Saturdays and Sundays are high calorie-consumption days. Well, at to the lowest degree y'all tin hope they're also outdoor activity days!

Figure 12-8:
Using WEEKDAY tells you lot which day of the week a date falls on.

Determining How Many Workdays Are in a Range of Dates with NETWORKDAYS

The NETWORKDAYS function tells you how many working days are in a range of dates. As an example, yous tin can use this office to effigy out how many days of work are left in the year. Ever sit at your desk and stare at the agenda trying to count how many working days are left? Excel can reply this vital question for you!
The NETWORKDAYS office is available when the Analysis ToolPak add-in is loaded. Run into Chapter 20 for more information on the Analysis ToolPak.
NETWORKDAYS counts the number of days in a range that you supply. The part purposely does not count Saturdays and Sundays. You can add an additional list of dates that should not be counted, if you want. This optional list is where you tin can put holidays, holiday time, and and so on.
Effigy 12-9 shows an example using NETWORKDAYS. Cells C3 and C4 prove the start and end dates, respectively. In this instance, the start appointment is provided with the TODAY function. Therefore, the result will always reverberate a count that starts from the electric current date. The end date is the final day of the year.

Figure 12-9:
Counting workdays with NETWORK DAYS.

The office in cell C6 is:

The role includes the cells that accept the start and end dates. Then there is a range of cells — C10 through C24. In these cells are dates that should not exist counted in the total of workdays. In the listing of dates are holidays and vacation days. Yous tin can put anything in hither — Excel doesn't care.

To use NETWORKDAYS, follow these steps:

1. Select the cell where you want the results displayed.
two. Enter =NETWORKDAYS( to begin the function entry.
3. Click the prison cell that has the start date for the range of dates to be counted.
4. Enter a comma (,).
five. Click the cell that has the number end date for the range of dates to be counted.
If you want to add together a listing of dates to exclude in the count, proceed to Steps six and 7; otherwise, skip these and go to Footstep eight.
6. Enter a comma (,).
7. Click and drag the mouse over the cells that accept the dates to be excluded in the workdays count.
8. Enter a endmost parenthesis to finish the function, and press Enter.
The result is a count of days, between the start and terminate dates, that do non fall on Saturday or Sunday and are non in an optional list of exclusion dates.

Calculating Time between Two Dates with the DATEDIF Function

Excel provides the DATEDIF function to calculate the number of days, months, or years between two dates. This is an undocumented function, that is, you will not see information technology in the Insert Role dialog box, and y'all cannot find information technology in the Excel Help system. But how absurd this is! Impress your friends and co-workers. The simply affair you have to do is call up how to enter information technology. Of grade, we don't mind if y'all proceed this topic effectually to look it up.
DATEDIF takes three arguments: the start appointment, the end appointment, and the interval. The interval argument tells the function what type of result to return, summarized in Table 12-2.

Tabular array 12-2 Settings for the Interval Argument of DATEDIF
Value What it ways	Comment
"d" Days	The count of inclusive days from the start date through the end date.
"m" Months	The count of complete months between the dates. Only those months that fully occur betwixt the dates are counted. For example, if the first date starts after the first of the month then that starting time month is not included in the count. For the finish appointment, even when information technology is the final day of the month, that month is not counted. Run across Effigy 12-10 for an example.

Value	What it ways	Annotate
"y"	Years	The count of complete years between the dates. Only those years that fully occur betwixt the dates are counted. For example, if the start engagement starts afterward than January 1 and then that first year is not included in the count. For the end date, even when it is December 31, that year is not counted. See Figure 12-10 for an example.
"yd"	Days excluding Years	The count of inclusive days from the start date through then end date, but as if the ii dates are in the same year. The year is ignored.
"ym"	Months excluding Years	The count of complete months betwixt the dates, but as if the two dates are in the aforementioned yr. The year is ignored.
"md"	Days excluding Months and Years	The count of inclusive days from the start date through the end date, merely as if the ii dates are in the same month and year. The month and year are ignored.

Figure 12-10 shows some examples of using DATEDIF. Cavalcade A has outset dates. Column B has cease dates. Columns C through H incorporate formulas with DATEDIF. The DATEDIF office uses the start and end dates on each given row, and the interval is labeled at the meridian of the each column, C through H.

Figure 12-10:
Counting with DATEDIF.

Here are some highlights from the DATEDIF example in Figure 12-x:

When the kickoff appointment and end date are the same, the count of days is zero. The formula in cell C4 is =DATEDIF(A4,B4,"d").
With a first date of 1/1/2005 and an end date of 12/31/2005, merely 11 months are counted. The month of the terminate engagement is not counted. The formula in cell D6 is =DATEDIF(A6,B6,"m").
With a start date of one/1/2005 and an cease date of v/10/2006, DATEDIF used with the "dr." interval returns 9 as the count of days between the dates even though the real count is 494. The formula in prison cell H8 is
=DATEDIF(A8,B8,"doc").

Here's how to use DATEDIF:

i. Select the jail cell where y'all want the results to appear.
2. Enter =DATEDIF( to begin the function entry.
3. Click on a jail cell where you accept a engagement, or enter its accost.
4. Enter a comma (, ).
five. Click on a prison cell where y'all another date.
This appointment must be the same or greater than the first date from Pace 3 or an error will be returned.
6. Enter a comma (, ).
7. Enter an interval.
See Table 12-2 for the listing of intervals that you can use with the function. Make sure that the interval is enclosed in double quotes.
8. Enter a closing parenthesis to end the office and press Enter.
This function is not documented and so you will have to memorize how to use it, or else jot down its syntax and keep information technology near your estimator.

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