The TODAY and NOW functions in Excel
TODAY returns the current date with no time, and it updates every day. NOW returns the date and the time. Both take no arguments, so the brackets stay empty.
Use them for 'days until a deadline', 'days overdue' or a timestamp. Because the result changes, a formula that uses TODAY is not a fixed record of a moment; copy the value as a fixed date when you need a snapshot.
Syntax
=TODAY()
| Argument | What it means |
|---|
Examples
1. Check that a date is in the past
| A | B | C | D | E | F | G | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Released | 36526 | |||||
| 2 | Released before today? | TRUE |
TODAY is always later than the fixed date 1 January 2000, so the comparison is TRUE on any day.
2. Compare today with a year
| A | B | C | D | E | F | G | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Current year is 2000 or later? | TRUE |
YEAR takes the year from TODAY. The test stays TRUE every day, so it is safe to show in a report.
Common mistakes
Expecting a fixed date. A cell with
=TODAY()shows a new date each time the workbook opens.Fix: Paste the result as a value (Paste Special, Values) when you need a fixed date.
Leaving out the brackets. TODAY takes no argument but still needs the empty pair:
=TODAY().Fix: Always type TODAY() with both brackets.
Frequently asked questions
What is the difference between TODAY and NOW?
TODAY returns the date only, at midnight. NOW also returns the time. Format the cell as a date or time to choose what is shown.
How do I count days until a deadline?
Subtract TODAY from the deadline: =B2-TODAY(). Format the cell as a number, not a date.
Related functions
- DATEDATE builds a real Excel date from a year, month and day.
- MONTHMONTH, YEAR and DAY return one part of a date as a number.
- EOMONTHEOMONTH returns the last day of a month; EDATE the same day a number of months later or earlier.
- NETWORKDAYSNETWORKDAYS counts the working days between two dates, Monday to Friday, optionally skipping holidays.