Six months later: =EDATE(A2,6) Result: 25-Feb-2027

Three months earlier: =EDATE(A2,-3) Result: 25-May-2026

Common uses: Contract expiry, Subscription dates, Loan schedules, Review dates, Employee milestones

1️⃣2️⃣ Date Subtraction

One of the simplest but most useful date calculations is: =B2-A2

Suppose: Start Date: 01-Aug-2026, End Date: 10-Aug-2026 - Formula: =B2-A2 Result: 9 days

This is useful for calculating: Delivery time, Processing time, Turnaround time, Resolution time, Payment delays

1️⃣3️⃣ Calculate Days Overdue

Suppose: Due Date: 20-Aug-2026

You want to know how many days overdue the payment is. You could use: =MAX(0,TODAY()-A2)

If today is after the due date, Excel calculates the overdue days. If the payment isn't overdue, it returns: 0

This is useful for invoice and payment analysis.

1️⃣4️⃣ DATEDIF()

DATEDIF() calculates the difference between two dates in different units.

For example: =DATEDIF(A2,B2,"Y") returns the number of complete years.

DATEDIF Units

"Y" - Complete years. =DATEDIF(A2,B2,"Y")

"M" - Complete months. =DATEDIF(A2,B2,"M")

"D" - Total days. =DATEDIF(A2,B2,"D")

1️⃣5️⃣ Employee Tenure Example

Suppose: Employee: John, Joining Date: 15-Jan-2022

To calculate completed years as of today: =DATEDIF(B2,TODAY(),"Y")

If today is after January 15, 2026, the result would be: 4 years

This is commonly used in HR analytics.

1️⃣6️⃣ Calculate Years and Months Together

You can combine DATEDIF calculations.

=DATEDIF(B2,TODAY(),"Y")&" Years "&DATEDIF(B2,TODAY(),"YM")&" Months"

Example result: 4 Years 7 Months - This can be useful in employee reports.

1️⃣7️⃣ NETWORKDAYS()

NETWORKDAYS() calculates the number of working days between two dates. It normally excludes: Saturday, Sunday

Example: =NETWORKDAYS(A2,B2)

This is very useful for: SLA analysis, Employee working days, Project duration, Processing time, Operational reporting

1️⃣8️⃣ NETWORKDAYS() with Holidays

Suppose your company holidays are listed in: H2:H10

You can use: =NETWORKDAYS(A2,B2,H2:H10)

Now Excel excludes: Weekends, Listed holidays

This is extremely useful for real-world business calculations.

1️⃣9️⃣ WORKDAY()

WORKDAY() calculates a future or previous working date.

Suppose a task starts on: 25-Aug-2026 and should take: 10 working days - Use: =WORKDAY(A2,10)

Excel returns the date after 10 working days, excluding weekends.

You can also provide holidays: =WORKDAY(A2,10,H2:H10)

2️⃣0️⃣ MONTH-END Reporting Example

Suppose you're preparing a monthly sales report. You have: Order Date, Sales - You need to identify the month-end date for every transaction. Use: =EOMONTH(A2,0)

You can then use that month-end field for reporting and grouping.

2️⃣1️⃣ Extract Month Name

MONTH() gives you a number. But sometimes you want: January instead of: 1

You can use: =TEXT(A2,"mmmm") Result: January

For abbreviated month: =TEXT(A2,"mmm") Result: Jan

2️⃣2️⃣ Extract Year-Month

For reporting, you may want: 2026-08 - You can use: =TEXT(A2,"yyyy-mm")

This is useful for: Monthly trends, Grouping, Reporting, Time-series analysis

2️⃣3️⃣ Important Date Problem: Dates Stored as Text

One common real-world problem is that something that looks like a date isn't actually stored as a date.