How to Add Dates in Excel

“Adding dates” in Excel can mean two things: putting dates into your cells, or adding days, months or years to a date you already have. This guide covers both. You’ll learn how to type dates so Excel recognizes them, insert today’s date with a shortcut, fill a whole column of dates in seconds, and use simple formulas to push a date forward or back.

Behind the scenes, Excel stores every date as a serial number, counting days from January 1, 1900. That’s why you can add 7 to a date and get the date a week later, and why a date can suddenly show as a number like 46000 if its formatting changes. Times work the same way as fractions of a day, so adding minutes takes a formula like the ones in this guide to adding 15 minutes to a time.

Part 1: How to Insert Dates in Excel

Type a date directly

Click a cell and type the date using your system’s format, such as 10/9/2026 in the US or 9/10/2026 in the UK, then press Enter. You can also type 9-Oct-2026 or October 9, 2026. If Excel recognizes the entry, it right-aligns it in the cell. Left-aligned means Excel treated it as text.

Insert today’s date with a shortcut

• Ctrl + ; (semicolon) inserts today’s date as a fixed value that won’t change.
• Ctrl + Shift + ; inserts the current time.
• On a Mac, use Control + ; for the date and Command + ; for the time.

Insert a date that updates automatically

Type =TODAY() to show today’s date, refreshed every time the workbook recalculates. Use =NOW() if you also want the time. These are handy for reports and countdowns, but don’t use them for records that should stay fixed, such as an order date.

Build a date from separate numbers

If the year, month and day are in different cells, combine them with the DATE function: =DATE(A2,B2,C2). DATE is also the safest way to write a date inside a formula, because it works regardless of regional settings, for example =DATE(2026,10,9).

Fill a series of dates

1. Type the first date in a cell.
2. Drag the fill handle (the small square at the cell’s bottom-right corner) down or across. Excel fills consecutive days.
3. Click the Auto Fill Options button that appears and choose Fill Weekdays, Fill Months or Fill Years if you need a different step.

For more control, select the starting cell and the range to fill, then go to Home > Fill > Series, choose Date, pick the unit (Day, Weekday, Month or Year) and set the step value. Both options are covered in the support article on creating a list of sequential dates. In Excel for Microsoft 365, =SEQUENCE(30,1,DATE(2026,10,1),1) spills 30 consecutive dates in one formula.

Add a date picker

Excel doesn’t include a pop-up calendar by default, but you can add one with an add-in or a data validation list. Both setups are explained in adding a calendar drop-down or date picker in Excel.

Part 2: How to Add Days, Months and Years to a Date

Add or subtract days

Because dates are numbers, simple arithmetic works. With a date in A2, =A2+30 returns the date 30 days later and =A2-14 returns the date two weeks earlier. A worked example is in adding 7 days to a date in Excel.

Add working days only

=WORKDAY(A2,10) returns the date 10 business days after A2, skipping Saturdays and Sundays. Add a range of holiday dates as a third argument to skip those too: =WORKDAY(A2,10,H2:H10).

Add months

=EDATE(A2,6) returns the same day six months later and automatically handles shorter months, so January 31 plus one month becomes February 28 (or 29). Use a negative number to go back. The same formula is applied in adding 6 months to a date in Excel.

Add years

=EDATE(A2,12*3) adds three years. You can also use =DATE(YEAR(A2)+3,MONTH(A2),DAY(A2)), which gives the same result except for February 29.

Find the number of days between two dates

Subtract the earlier date from the later one: =B2-A2. Use =NETWORKDAYS(A2,B2) to count working days only, or =DATEDIF(A2,B2,"m") for complete months. When the cells also hold times, the same subtraction gives a fraction of a day, and calculating the difference between two dates and times explains how to show it as hours and minutes.

Format Your Dates

Select the cells, press Ctrl + 1 and choose Date to pick a built-in style, or choose Custom and type a code such as dd-mmm-yyyy (09-Oct-2026) or dddd, mmmm d (Friday, October 9). Formatting changes only how the date looks, not its value. Existing dates can be changed in bulk when you convert the date format in Excel.

Troubleshooting Dates in Excel

• A date shows as a five-digit number. The cell is formatted as General or Number. Change it to a Date format with Ctrl + 1.
• Excel won’t recognize a typed date. The format doesn’t match your regional settings, so 13/10/2026 fails on a US system. Use DATE or switch to the expected order.
• Dates are left-aligned and formulas return #VALUE!. They’re stored as text, often after importing a CSV. Select the column and use Data > Text to Columns > Finish, or the DATEVALUE function, to convert them.
• The cell shows ######. The column is too narrow. Double-click the column border to widen it. A negative date result can also cause this.
• TODAY() changed an old record. It always shows the current date. Use Ctrl + ; for fixed dates, or copy the cell and paste it as values.
• Dates are off by four years. The workbook uses the 1904 date system, common with older Mac files. Check File > Options > Advanced > Use 1904 date system.

Tips

• Use one date format across a workbook so sorting and filtering behave predictably. You can then sort dates in ascending order with one click.
• Need the same date in many cells? Select them all, type the date, and press Ctrl + Enter. Other ways are listed in copying the same date in Excel.
• To show only the month name from a date, use =TEXT(A2,"mmmm"). More options are in converting a date to a month in Excel.

Frequently Asked Questions

How do I add today’s date in Excel?

Press Ctrl + ; for a fixed date, or type =TODAY() for one that updates automatically.

Can I auto-fill only weekdays?

Yes. Drag the fill handle, click Auto Fill Options and choose Fill Weekdays, or use Home > Fill > Series > Weekday.

How do I add one month to a date?

Use =EDATE(A2,1). Adding 30 days isn’t the same, because months have different lengths.

Why does Excel change what I type into a date?

Entries like 1-2 or 3/4 look like dates, so Excel converts them. Type an apostrophe first (’1-2) or format the cells as Text before typing.

Does this work in Google Sheets?

Yes. Ctrl + ;, TODAY, DATE, EDATE, WORKDAY and fill handles all work the same way in Google Sheets.

Wrapping Up

Type dates in your regional format or use DATE for reliability, press Ctrl + ; for today, and drag the fill handle for a series. When you need to move a date, add days directly, use EDATE for months and years, and WORKDAY when weekends shouldn’t count.

To go the other way and measure a gap, you can subtract two dates in Excel.