How to Use TODAY Function in Excel (6 Easy Examples)

Overview of the TODAY Function

• Summary

The TODAY function returns the current date formatted as a date.

• Syntax

=TODAY()

The TODAY function doesn’t take any arguments in its parameter.

How to Use the TODAY Function in Excel: 6 Easy Examples

We will consider the dataset with five columns: B, C, D, E, and F for ID, Products, Price, Delivery Date, and Due Days. The dataset ranges from B4 to F12. We will use this dataset to show six easy examples of using the TODAY function in Excel.

Method 1 – Finding the Difference Between Days Using the TODAY Function

Let’s have a dataset of products with delivery dates. We will find out the due days from the delivery date to today.

Steps:

• Enter this formula in cell F4.

• Use the Fill handle down to F11.

• You will see the final outcome.

Method 2 – Find Months Since or Before a Certain Date Using the TODAY Function

Let’s say we want to find out the Due months from the delivery dates using the same dataset above.

Steps:

• Enter the formula in cell F4.

• Copy it down up to F11.

• You will get the result just like the picture given below.

Method 3 – Find Years Since/Before a Certain Date Using the TODAY Function

Let’s do the same thing that was done in example 2 but here instead of calculating months, we will calculate years. We will have new columns named Received Date and Stored Time (Year).

Steps:

• Enter this formula in cell F4.

• Copy it down to F11.

• You will get the following results.

Method 4 – Get an Age from a Birthdate Using the TODAY Function

Let’s have a dataset of office employees. In the dataset, we have the ID, Name, and Birthday. We want to find out the current Age of each employee.

Steps:

• Enter this formula in cell E4.

• Copy it down to E12.

• You will get the results like the following picture.

Method 5 – Highlight Today’s Date in Excel Using the TODAY Function

Now let’s see how we can highlight today’s dates.

Steps:

• Select the dates.
• Go to the Home tab and select Conditional Formatting under the Styles section.

• Select the New Rules option

• Select the option to use a formula.
• Enter the following formula in the rule box.

• Press the OK button.

• Here’s the result.

Method 6 – Get Any Date Closest to Today Using the TODAY Function

Let’s see how we can get the closest date from any dataset.

Steps:

• Enter the following formula in cell D14 and press Ctrl + Shift + Enter (As this is an array formula).

• After pressing Enter, you will get the following result.

Shortcuts for the TODAY Function in Excel

• For Current Date

Ctrl + ;

• For Current Time

Ctrl + Shift + ;

• For Current Time

Ctrl + ;      Space then     Ctrl + Shift + ;

Things to Remember

• Make sure your cell is in the correct date format to use the TODAY function.
• If the start_date is formulated in an invalid format then, the EOMONTH function will return #VALUE! indicating an error in the value.
• Make sure your cells are in general format when you are calculating days, months, or years. Otherwise, it will return dates that are not correct for this kind of situation.

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