How To Add Dates In Google Sheets

In this tutorial, you will learn how to add dates in Google Sheets.

How To Add Dates In Google Sheets

There are many reasons to want to add dates to cells in Google Sheets.

For example, you might want to add the current date to an invoice or estimate you’re preparing for a customer, or insert a timestamp for newly entered data.

Whatever your reasons for adding dates, Google Sheets offers a number of useful features to help make the process quick and easy

TODAY Formula Method

If you need to add the current date in Google Sheets in such a way that it will always update to the current date, you can use the TODAY formula

Step 1

Select the cell you want to add the current date to

Step 2

Type the following formula into the cell: “=TODAY()” and hit enter to finish the formula

Step 3

The current date will appear in the cell. If you haven’t applied any special number formatting to the cell, it will appear in the default date format for your region

Step 4

Whenever the formula recalculates, the date will update to the current dates.

Google Sheets formulas generally recalculate when you open or reload the file, so refresh the page in your browser if your date is ever incorrect

Keyboard Shortcut Method

If you want to insert a date that will never change automatically, there’s a quick way to do that as well:

Step 1

Select the cell you want to insert the date into

Step 2

Hit Ctrl + ; (that’s a semicolon) on Windows or Command + ; on Mac

Step 3

The current date will be inserted into the selected cell and the cell’s number format will be converted to the default date format for your region

Step 4

Note that unlike dates inserted using the TODAY() formula, dates inserted in this way are not formulas and will never change automatically. This method is essentially just a shortcut for typing the date manually

Summary

Example Spreadsheet: Make a copy of the example spreadsheet

In this tutorial, I covered how to add dates in Google Sheets. Want more? Check out all the Google Sheets Tutorials.