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How to Add Days to Date in Excel: Quickest Methods of 2024

Excel is the top spreadsheet program for analyzing and organizing datasets by date. There are a huge number of functions and tools to help you track deadlines, manage events, schedule tasks, prepare sales reports over a given period, and much more.

Are you willing to add certain days to given dates?

There are circumstances where you may 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, we will be discussing different methods to add days to date in Excel. You can click on the following links to jump to that particular section.

Download the Example Excel Spreadsheet

Make sure you download the following spreadsheet containing all the datasets used to demonstrate adding days to date in this article.

Click Here To Download!

It will surely sharpen your skills in using the functions we will discuss further. If you have your dataset ready to practice the things we are about to discuss, then skip downloading the above file.

How to Add Days to Date in Excel

Adding days to a given date in Excel is not a difficult task. It doesn’t require any special skills.

Anyone with little knowledge of Excel can do this by following any of the methods discussed below.

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

This is the traditional method of adding days to the given date. It utilizes a basic addition feature of Excel.

Below is the table that we are considering to demonstrate the first method of adding days to date,

How To Add Days To Date In Excel - Ultimate Guide

Our task is to add the number of days mentioned in column B to the dates present in column A.

Here are the steps,

  • Open the desired spreadsheet
  • Click on the cell “C2
  • Type “=
  • Select the cell “A2” using your mouse
  • Now press “+” on your keyboard
  • Select the cell “B2
  • Press “Enter” on your keyboard to see the result

So, the final formula would be as follows,

=A2+B2

To apply a formula similar to the remaining cells, hover over the lower-rightmost corner of the cell “C2” until you see the “+” icon. Click on it and drag it to the end of the table.

If you have a single date and are planning to add, let’s say, for example, 5 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 “5”.

Here’s the final formula,

="1/1/2023"+ 5

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

METHOD #2 – Adding Days to Date Using the DATE Function in Excel

In contrast to the simple addition method discussed above, this one includes the DATE function to get the job done.

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

Explained: The DATE Function in Excel

The DATE function in Excel is used to create a date from individual year, month, and day components. In other words, it is a useful function when there are separate columns for year, month, and day, and you want to combine them to form a single date.

The General Syntax of the DATE function is as follows,

=DATE(year, month, day)

Where all three arguments are self-explanatory, you need to replace them with the given year, month, and day to create a date. One can either manually enter the values or select the cell reference containing the same for all three arguments of the DATE function.

Note that all the decimal values (both higher and lower) will be rounded to the nearest integer number. For example, the function will consider the “10.43” as “10” while generating the month.

We will combine the DATE function with the following functions.

Explained: The YEAR Function

YEAR is a simple function that returns a four-digit year number from a given date.

Its syntax is as follows:

=YEAR(serial_number)

Where serial_number is the date from which you wish to extract the year, for example, the formula =YEAR(“15-02-2023”) will return “2023” as output.

Explained: The MONTH Function

The MONTH is also a straightforward function that returns the month from the given date.

The general syntax of the MONTH function is as follows,

=MONTH(serial_number)

Where serial_number is the date from which you wish to extract the month, for instance, =MONTH(“15-02-2023”) will return “2” as a result.

Explained: The DAY Function

The DAY function in Excel is used to extract the day number of the date. The general syntax for the function is as follows,

=DATE(serial_number)

Where the serial_number argument needs to be replaced with the date from which we wish to extract the date, for example, the formula =DATE(“15-02-2023”) will return “15” as a result.

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 Excel, 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 also a function in Excel, 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 Excel 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 the “Enter” button

The final formula will be as follows,

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

It is compulsory to use the YEAR and MONTH functions to add days to the respective date. Because without them, the DATE function would not work as expected.

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 30 days to a date in Excel?

Adding days to a date in Excel is a very simple process. You can either use the simple addition feature or use the DATE function to do it.

Now, to add 30 days to a given date in Excel, follow the steps below,

  • Open the desired spreadsheet
  • Place your date in the cell “A1
  • In cell “B1”, place the number “30
  • Now, in cell C1, type the formula “=A1 + B1
  • Press “Enter” on your keyboard

For detailed steps, you can refer to the above sections of this article, where I have explained how to add days to a date in Excel with examples.

Q. How do I autofill days in Excel?

Excel has a feature that auto-fills the results derived from formulas. You can use the keyboard shortcut “CTRL + E” or follow the steps below, which utilizes the Fill Handle tool in Excel.

  • Click on the cell where you have applied the formula
  • Hover to the lower-rightmost corner of the cell
  • You will observe a “+” icon at the bottom
  • Click on it and drag it to the end of the table

You can try the keyboard shortcut first, and if it does not work, then go with the Fill Handle method.

Conclusion: Excel Add Days To Date

That’s it!

I hope this quick guide taught you all the bells and whistles of adding days to a given date.

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 Microsoft Excel.

Also, make sure to explore our blog section for more tips and tricks on how to use Microsoft Excel and Google Sheets like a pro.