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TODAY / NOW

Dates

The current date (or date-and-time) that updates itself every time the sheet recalcs.

Difficulty

Beginner
Excel file

1What is it?

TODAY returns today's date; NOW returns the current date and time. Both take no arguments and both are 'volatile' — they refresh whenever the workbook recalculates, so a report always shows the right date without you touching it. Because dates are just numbers underneath, you can do arithmetic on them: TODAY() minus an invoice date gives days outstanding, and a due date minus TODAY() gives days remaining.

2What it looks like

TODAY()
(no arguments)
TODAY() and NOW() take nothing inside the parentheses.

3When you use it

  • Days outstanding: =TODAY() - B2 on an invoice date.
  • A self-updating 'as of' date in a report header.
  • Flag overdue rows: =IF(TODAY() > B2, "Overdue", "Current").

4See it in action

Change the inputs — the formula and result update live. Prefer the real thing? Download the Excel file and open it in Excel.

The current date · 1 of 2

TODAY() and NOW() take no arguments and refresh on every recalc — so this is the real date right now.

A2
fx
=TODAY()Jul 13, 2026
A
1Result
2Jul 13, 2026

The lime cell holds the formula — click it (or any cell) to see its contents in the bar above, just like Excel. Edit the blue cells to watch it recompute.

5Common errors

Shows a numberThe cell isn't formatted as a date.

Fix: Format it as Date — the value is a date serial number underneath.

It keeps changingYou wanted to freeze the date it was entered.

Fix: TODAY/NOW are volatile — type Ctrl+; for a static date that won't move.

Difference shows a dateTODAY() - B2 came back formatted as a date, not a count of days.

Fix: Format the result cell as a plain number to see the day count.

6Better functions & alternatives

  • DATE / YEAR / MONTH / DAY — Build or take apart a specific date rather than the current one.
  • Ctrl + ; shortcut — Insert a static timestamp that doesn't update — see the tip.
  • EOMONTH — Period-end dates relative to today: EOMONTH(TODAY(), 0).

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