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How to Add Days to Date in Google Sheets (Simple & Quick)

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Adding days to a given date is pretty straightforward in Google Sheets. The spreadsheet program comes with powerful functions to organize and analyze dates. You can use the DATE function to add years, months, and days to a date.

There are circumstances where you may wish to add a security period, working days, meeting schedule, or even a week to a given date.

Manually editing and adding days, months, or years to a date is time-consuming.

In this article, let us learn various ways to add days to date in Google Sheets. We will use the built-in functions and simple calculation capabilities of Google Sheets.

So, make sure to read the article till the end.

Download the Example Google Sheets

Use the following Google Sheet, which contains the spreadsheets with all the datasets used to demonstrate adding days to date in this article.

Click Here!

It will surely sharpen your skills to use the functions we will discuss in the following sections.

If you have your own Google Sheet ready to practice the things discussed in this article, then skip downloading the above file.

How to Add Days to Date in Google Sheets

Adding days to a given date in Google Sheets doesn’t require special skills. From beginners to experts, everyone can follow the steps discussed in this article.

Let us use the following dates and add days to them.

Now, without any further, let’s get started.

METHOD #1 – Adding Days to Date using the Cell Reference

This is the quickest compared to the next method on this list. It uses a simple addition feature of Google Sheets.

Here is the table in which we have dates and respective days that need to be added.

Now, follow the steps below,

  • Click on the Cell “C2”
  • Type “=”
  • Using your mouse, select the cell “A2”
  • Now, press “+” key
  • Select the “B2”
  • Press “Enter” on your keyboard

Here is the final formula we used. You can directly copy and paste it.

=A2+B2

Next, to use this formula for the rest of the dates, you can either use the autofill feature as shown in the above GIF or hover to the lower-rightmost corner of the cell “C2” until you see the “+” icon. Click on that “+” icon and drag it to the end of the table.

In case you have a single date and are planning to add, let’s say, for example, 10 days to it. Refer to the following image.

You can do it manually. Click on the desired cell; in our case, we are using the cell “B2”.

Type the date in double quotation marks as shown below,

Next, press “+” on your keyboard and type “10”.

Here’s what the final formula looks like.

="1/1/2023"+10

Note that if you are adding the days to a given date manually, then you must use double quotation marks; otherwise, Google Sheets will return an error.

METHOD #2: Adding Days to Date Using the DATE Function in Google Sheets

In contrast to the simple addition method discussed above, this one is pretty complicated. It uses the DATE function in Google Sheets.

The DATE function can be used to add days, months, and years as well to a given date.

Explained: The DATE Function in Google Sheets

The DATE is a simple function in Google Sheets that creates a valid date. It allows users to combine year, month, and day.

The general syntax is as follows:

=DATE(year, month, day)

The arguments in the above formula are self-explanatory. Let’s take a quick look at them.

  • “year” – This argument accepts four-digit numbers and uses them as the year for your date. You can manually enter the value or provide the cell reference.
  • “month” – For this argument, you can put two digits that will represent the month for your date. You can either manually enter them or provide the cell reference containing the month
  • “day” – This is the final argument for this formula. It accepts two-digit numbers and converts them to the day for your date. Here, as well, you can choose to manually enter the values or provide the cell reference

Note that in the case of decimal values, the function is going to round them to the nearest integer number. It is applicable to both higher and lower decimal values.

Consider the example of “10.43”. It will be treated as 10 by the DATE function.

We will combine the DATE function with the following three functions.

The YEAR Function

It is used to extract the year from a date in Google Sheets. The YEAR function has the following general syntax,

=YEAR(date)

Here, the “date” argument needs to be replaced with the date from which the year will be extracted.

The Month Function

Similar to the YEAR function, this function is used to extract the month from a given date. The general syntax is as follows,

=MONTH(date)

The DAY Function

It also uses the same syntax and arguments to extract the day from a given date in Google Sheets.

Here’s the general syntax for the DAY function,

=DAY(date)

Now, let’s use these functions to add days to the given dates.

We have two separate columns. The dates are available in the first column, and days are present in the second column. Refer to the following image.

Here are the steps,

  • Click on the cell “C2”
  • Type “=date”
  • Select the first option from the popup or press “Tab” on your keyboard
  • Type “year”
  • As the YEAR is a function in Google Sheets, you will see a popup with the list of relevant functions, as shown below,
  • Select the first option from the list or press “Tab” on your keyboard
  • Select the cell reference as “A2”
    (The “A2” cell contains the date from which the year will be extracted and used for further calculations)
  • Complete the bracket using “)”
  • Put a comma using “,” on your keyboard
  • Next, type “month”
  • As the MONTH is a function in Google Sheets, you will see a popup with the list of relevant functions as displayed in the following image
  • Select the first option or press the “Tab” key
  • Provide the cell reference as “A2”
  • Complete the bracket using “)”
  • Put a comma using the “,” key on your keyboard
  • Type “day”, and Google Sheets will display the relevant functions as shown below
  • Select the first option from the popup or press “Tab” on your keyboard
  • Complete the bracket for the DAY function using “)”
  • Next, we will put “+” using our keyboard to add days
  • As the days that we wish to add to date are available in the cell “B2”, we will provide this cell reference as shown below
  • Complete the bracket for the DATE function “)”
  • Press “Enter”

The final formula will be as follows,

=DATE(YEAR(A2),MONTH(A2),DAY(A2)+B2)

Note that even when you add days to the respective date, using the YEAR and MONTH functions is compulsory. Without those functions, the DATE formula will not work.

To use this formula for the remaining dates, you can either use the autofill feature and go to the lower-rightmost corner of the cell “B2” until you see the “+” icon. Click on that “+” icon and drag it to the end of the table.

The formula will be applied to the rest of the dates. Here is the output.

FAQs

Q. How do you add days to today’s date in Google Sheets?

You can use the TODAY function and follow the simple addition method to add the days to today’s date.

Let’s assume we need to add 10 days to today’s date.

Here is the formula:

=TODAY()+10

TODAY is a simple function in Google Sheets that doesn’t require any argument.

Q. How do you add the workdays to a given date in Google Sheets?

To add workdays to a given date, Google Sheets offers a built-in function called the WORKDAY.

=WORKDAY(start_date, num_days, [holidays])

In the above formula, the “holidays” argument is optional.

Note that the workdays are considered from Monday to Friday, and Saturday and Sunday are considered as the non-working days.

Let us add 10 working days to the following date.

Here is the formula,

=WORKDAY(A2, 10)

After adding 10 days to the date “1/1/2023”, the output will be “1/13/2023”. Note that two Sundays and one Saturday have been excluded during the above calculations.

Conclusion

That’s it!

I hope this quick guide taught you all the bells and whistles on how to add days to date in Google Sheets.

It is pretty straightforward if you will see the simple addition method.

On the other hand, using the DATE function is somewhat complicated, but it will surely be helpful in a few scenarios.

At Software Accountant, we have a huge collection of articles about managing dates and using formatting to prepare beautiful reports. Make sure to check out our blog section.

Let us know in the comment section if you are stuck somewhere or need any help adding days, months, and years to a given date. Our team of experts is always here to help you with all the problems related to Google Sheets and Microsoft Excel.