In this tutorial, you will learn how to use the TODAY function in Google Sheets.
How To Use the TODAY Function in Google Sheets
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When working with dates in Google Sheets, you may have to find a way to determine whether a certain date is equal to the current date.
For example, if you’ve set up a tracker for project tasks, you may want to highlight cells that are due on the current date.
Knowing the current day can also help users compute how far back or how soon in the future some date is. We can also add or subtract from the current date to find the date for time frames such as “Tomorrow” or “Yesterday”.
The TODAY function in Google Sheets is a powerful tool to help you keep track of the current date. Using TODAY, we can quickly compare dates with the current date .
In this guide, we will give you an overview of the TODAY function in Google Sheets.
How to Output the Current Date in Google Sheets
Here’s how you can output the current date in Google Sheets.
Step 1
First, select an empty cell where you want to place the current date. In the example below, we want to display the current date in cell B1.
Step 2
Type the formula =TODAY() to return the current date in the target cell.
Do note that the TODAY function does not require any arguments.
Step 3
The TODAY function will output the current date using the default date formatting. The function will automatically update the value when the current user’s time zone enters a new date.
Users can select Format > Number > Custom date and time to find more options for formatting the current date.
Step 4
The TODAY function can be used along with other date functions.
For example, we can use the TODAY and EOMONTH functions to find the last day of the current month.
In the example below, we used the TEXT function to output the current date in a specific format.
Summary
This guide should be everything you need to use the TODAY function in Google Sheets.
You may make a copy of this example spreadsheet to test it out on your own.