How to Add Days in MS Excel? [5 Examples]

Adding days in ms

Appearances are deceptive! That is especially true when it comes to the data that is in Date format in MS Excel. Though a date may appear in the DD-MM-YYYY format or fancies any other format for that matter, deep underneath MS Excel assigns a value to this date. To put it in simple terms, dates are just continuous serial numbers with 1 representing the 1st of January 1900.

1Jan1900
Observe & Believe!

In the above image, it is evident that when tried to look into the numerical equivalent for the 1st January 1900 in the format dropdown it shows the number ‘1’. Having established this conundrum let us now move on to finding out the different ways of adding days in MS Excel.


Adding Days in Excel:

Listed below are 5 examples to demonstrate the different ways to add the days. One can choose either of these based on whichever best suits the requirements at hand.

  • Using Operand
  • Using DATE Formula
  • The Accelerator Way
  • Using EOMONTH Formula
  • Using TODAY Formula

Example 1 – Adding Days in Excel Using Operand

Beneath the skin, it is just a number so a simple addition operand shall serve the purpose of adding the days. Let us try adding 20 days to the 1st of January 1900. It could be done by starting with an equals (=) sign & clicking the cell which contains the date. Then include a plus (+) sign followed by the number 20 as shown below.

Adding 20 days
Adding 20 Days

Hit ENTER & the new date 20 days after the selected date shall appear.

20 days added
20 Days Added!

Example 2 – Adding Days in Excel Using the DATE Formula

Another way of constructing a date is using the DATE formula in which references would be given to each of the cells containing the value of the day, month & year – the basic constituents of the date. Have a look at the following example to get a fair idea.

DATE Formula
DATE Formula

Syntax for DATE formula is,

=DATE( year, month, date)

So, to add the days for any given date in this formula one can put a plus sign (+) following the cell referred to in the date portion of the formula.

Adding Days within DATE
Adding Days within DATE Formula

Hit ENTER & the new date shall appear.

Days Added within DATE
Days Added within DATE Formula

Example 3 – Adding Days in Excel Using The Accelerator Way

Using the infamous accelerator let’s add 20 days to the date in the below image.

Sample Date
Sample Date

Copy the count of days to be added using CTRL+C & move the active cell to J7 which has the date as shown below.

J8 Copied
J8 Copied

Hit the following keys in the same sequence for the Paste Values Dialog box to appear.

ALT – E – S – V – D

Paste Special Dialog Box 1
Paste Special Dialog Box

Hit ENTER & the new date shall appear!

Days Added
Days Added!

Example 4 – Adding Days in Excel Using EOMONTH Formula

EOMONTH formula is used to get the last date of a month whose syntax is as follows.

=EOMONTH( start_date, months)

Where,

  • start_date – reference date to which end of the month is to be determined
  • months – count of months after which end of the month is to be determined
EOMONTH
EOMONTH Formula

If one wants to add a few days to the result of the EOMONTH, here’s what is needed to be done.

EOMONTH Days Added
Days Added to EOMONTH

Example 5 – Adding Days in Excel Using TODAY Formula

MS Excel has this fascinating feature of displaying today’s date when the following syntax is put into use.

=TODAY()

What if one wants to add a certain number of days to the current date? Just add a plus (+) sign followed by the required number at the end of the formula.

Addings days to TODAY
Adding Days to Current Date

Conclusion:

Now that we have reached the end of this article, here’s another that details on how to add months to a date in MS Excel. There are numerous other articles too in QuickExcel that can come in handy for those who are in looking to level up their skills in MS Excel. Adios!