In April 2011, Mdsuhair asked a question at the Chandoo.org Forums
This is a candidate for Solver.
This post will walk us through the solution to the problem using Solver. It uses Solver and screen shots from Excel 2007.
All versions of Excel have solver available. Users should note that the screen shots may not match your version although the functionality will, some of the functions appear in different locations in different versions of Solver.
What and Where Is Solver
What is Solver
Solver is an Excel add-in that can solve problems by enabling a Target cell to achieve some goal.
This goal may be to minimse, maximise, or achieve some target value.
It solves the problem by adjusting a number of input cells according to a set of criteria or constraints which are defined by the user.
Where is Solver
Solver is an Excel add-in supplied with Excel, but not enabled by default.
To enable solver
File, Excel Options, Add-ins, Manage Excel Add-ins, Select the Solver Add-in checkbox
Solver will now appear as a New Tab on the Data, Analysis Tab
Solver Example
This post is based around a worked example Solver Example File, the file is compatible with all versions of Excel.
Defining the Problem
Mdsuhair had a series of 8 Items each which had a value:
He wants to know which items should be combined so that the sum of the values of the items is nearly equal.
To do this we need to assign each item into a Bucket. Namely Bucket A and Bucket B.
We will put values of 1 into a Bucket for each Item to show that it is assigned to that Bucket and a value of 0 to show that the bucket is empty (In/Out) Value.
We can start by adding a Total Column, which counts items in Buckets A + Bucket B for each Item, It then totals the totals.
We also know that we need to work out the Value of each Item in each Bucket
We do this by multiplying the Items Value by the Buckets (In/Out) value
Finally we need to add up the values in each Bucket and work out the difference between them
Mdsuhair’s original problem was to minimise the difference between the sum of the values in the 2 buckets.
Now we can place values of 1 in the buckets manually and Excel will show us the value of each Bucket and the Difference between them in Cell G11.
I have applied some conditional formatting to show when a cell has a value > 0.
The problem is that there are 28 or 256 combinations of answers, and to test them all manually at 1 every 5 seconds would take 21.3 minutes, assuming we can keep up that pace and remember which was the best combination.
This is where solver comes to the fore.
Applying Solver
To apply solver we need to define a series of requirements, rules and constraints.
These requirements, rules and constraints guide solver and set limits which allow solver to quickly narrow in on the answer.
What are our rules
Our main requirement is to minimise the difference between the value of the 2 buckets.
The difference between the 2 buckets in our example is cell G11, the sum of Bucket 2 values minus the Sum of Bucket 1 values.
We want to have G11 as low as possible but greater than or equal to 0.
We also know that an item can only be in Bucket A or Bucket B, it can’t be in both and can’t be Broken apart.
That is 2 Constraints for each Item
Firstly The Total column must be equal to 1
Secondly the Buckets Values must be Integers
We also know that the Total Number of Items is 8, this is another constraint.
We will discuss how these constraints are used in the next section
The Solver Window
This section will explain the solver window and its use in defining the problem within solver.
A Blank Solver Window
A Filled Solver Window
Set Target Cell:
This is the Target cell which is the cell which you are trying to solve the problem for.
Our Target cell is G11, The difference between the 2 Buckets values
Equal To:
The Equal To: section defines what we want to do with our Target Cell.
We want to achieve the same value in each Bucket and so the difference between the Buckets will be 0.
It might sound strange but we don’t want to minimise that difference. A minimal value will be achieved when all the Items are placed in Bucket A, as our equation for G11 will then have 0 – Total which is –Total, which is more minimal than 0.
Another way to constrain this is to Change G11 to =Abs(G10-H10)
This allows us to use Min as an Equal To: Value
But for now we can just leave G11 as =G10-H10 and we will set the Equal To: section as 0.
By Changing Cells:
Changing Cells: refers to the cells which will be modified by Solver to try and solve the problem.
We want to let Solver change the number of items in each bucket, this is the range: $C$2:$D$9
Hint: You can try the Guess button next to the Range Reference and Solver will take a Guess at what cells the problem is dependent on.
Always check this if you use it, especially in complex models.
Subject to the Constraints:
Constraints are the rules which define the limits of the possible solutions to the problem
We will add several constraints for our rules:
1. The Total column must be equal to 1 for each Item
2. The Bucket Value must be an Integer
3. The total contents of the 2 buckets must be 8 items
4. You could add a further constraint that each Bucket should hold the same number of items
Hint: As a general Rule, Under Constrain rather than over constrain! You can always add more constraints later.
To do this we will use the Add Constraint Button
1. We need to add a constraint for each cell in the Range E2:E9 that it is only allowed to be = 1
This constraint must be applied for each cell in the range E2:E9
2. We need to add a constraint for each cell in the Range C2:D9 that it is only allowed to be an integer
This constraint must be applied for each cell in the range C2:D9
3. We need to add a constraint for the Total of the 2 Buckets, E10=8
You can Change or Delete Constraints if you make a mistake by selecting the appropriate constraint and using the Change or Delete Buttons
Save and Load Solves Parameters
Selecting the Options Button there is the Option to Save Model and Load Models.
Hint: The Save/Load Models has been shifted onto the main Solver dialog in Excel 2010.
Using the Save Model and Load Model options you can Save and the Load the Solver Parameters for your model. The Save Model saves the parameters in a Range of cells as shown below.
This allows an easy way to actually setup and/or change the solver parameters.
Hint: Setup one constraint using solver then Save the model. Edit the model on the worksheet and re-load the model as required.
Note: That the parameters although when saved show as True/False or Numbers are all Excel Equations, see above.
This means you can edit them to change the Constraints and Parameters as required and re-load them into solver.
I have included 3 sets of Parameters for our model.
These are:
- Base Case – Forces bucket values to be equal, Allows uneven bucket counts
- Equal Sized Buckets – Forces each bucket to contain the same number of items
- Force an error – Which forces an error in the solver model
Load each model and try them at your leisure.
Running the Solver Model
Warning: Solver is a computationally complex add-in, so once your model is setup, Save your Workbook.
Prior to running the model there are a few parameters we should look at to ensure the model solves correctly.
On the main Solver window select the Options button. (Some of these parameters are on the Main Solver window in Solver 2010)
Generally you can accept the defaults but in this case we will change the following
Assume Linear Model – Select
Assume Non-Negative – Select
Note: Solver in Excel 2010 will return a better answer without these 2 parameters enabled by default
The other 2 parameters which you may need to change from time to time is
Precision: Precision is a number from 0 to 1 and higher means more precise
Tolerance: Tolerance shows how far away from a Number, an Integer constraint is allowed to be
The use of the Estimates, Derivatives and Search parameters are beyond the scope of this post. I direct you to the Excel Help on these subjects, by selecting the Help button.
Run the Model
To Run the Model, select the Solve Button from the main Solver menu.
The main status bar in Excel will flash up a number of statistics about the internal workings of the Solver add-in. Generally these flash by and are too fast to read. If a model is too complex it may stall and you won’t see any movement for a while. Solver generally recovers from these problems itself.
Once the Solver model finishes it will display a dialog of the results and allow you to do several things
First thing to note is that “Solver Found a Solution“.
If it has found a solution, the worksheet cells will be changed to show the solution
You now have 4 options:
- Run a Report
- Save a Scenario
- Return to the model
- Check Your Results
Run a Report
Run a report by clicking the report you want.
A new sheet will be added to your workbook depending on the report but will be called:
- Answer Report 1,
- Sensitivity Report 1
- Limits Reports 1
etc.
Note, that not all reports are relevant at all times, depending on the Constraints you have applied.
Save a Scenario
Selecting the Save a Scenario button takes you to the Save Scenario dialog.
Type in a Name and the Scenario of your model is saved as a Scenario.
Scenarios as available for use in the Scenario Manager, which is accessed from the Data, What-If-Analysis Tab
Return to the model
You can return to your model and either:
- Keep Solver Solution
- Restore Original Values
Check the Results
Solver is probably the most Black Box’ish of systems within Excel. As such any results it puts out must be manually checked for suitableness before further use.
These checks for realness, should as a start confirm that the results meet all the criteria supplied.
Are the results roughly what were expected?
Are any Minimums or Maximums violated?
What If Solver Doesn’t Find a Solution?
From time to time Solver will return with an error that a “Solver could not find a feasible solution.”
When this happens it is indicating one of several possibilities:
- Your model is over or under constrained
- Your model constraints are impossible to meet
- Your model constraints have an error
Start by checking the current constraints for errors and ambiguities
Eg: in our case we have 8 items so requiring the Count of the two buckets to be 20 is impossible to meet
My Solver Answer has Strange Numbers?
In solver up to and including Excel 2007, solver would commonly return numbers like 3.5E-18.
This is 0.0000000000000000035, which is effectively 0
If your model returns these, feel free to go through the model and change them to 0, in our model we should also check as the corresponding 1, may in fact be 0.9999999999999999965.
It should be noted that this problem in Solver in Excel 2010 does not occur as often but will still occur.
What and How have you used solver in the past?
What and How have you used solver in the past?
Let us know in the comments below:
99 Responses to “How to use Date & Time values in Excel – 10 + 3 tips”
[...] Date with my sheet - 10 tips on using date / time in excel (tags: excel totw) Posted in Uncategorized | [...]
I have this current formula in place for 2014 "=DATE(YEAR(TODAY()),T2,1)"
How do I change it for 2015?
Thanks 🙂
@Liz
You shouldn't have too
If you use it today 1st Jan 2015 it will return the 1st of the month in cell T2 in 2015
[...] 10 Tips on using Date / Time in Excel [...]
[...] More on date / time: 10 tips on using, formatting date / time in excel. [...]
Hi Chandoo,
Since this article was for Dates, below are 2 easy ones to calculate the Start and End of Month. (without using the EOMONTH formula as available in Analysis Toolpak).
In Cell A1, put any date
then in the cell where you would want the Start of Month put the below formula
1. Start of the Month
=DATE(YEAR(A1),MONTH(A1),1)
2. End of Month
=DATE(YEAR(A1),MONTH(A1)+1,0)
Hope this would help a lot who were dependant of EOMONTH..
cheers
~Vijay
@Vijay: That is an awesome tip. Thank you so much for sharing it with all of us.
Perfect
Why not use the EOMONTH formula?
I run a trolley tour business and need to set up a data base to track tickets sold by mutable vendors (from store, on the street ,etc)and by class ( adult, senior,child and discounts ) can you help or direct me to one that could?
I know how to write macro's for excel, but I have 1 issue that I cant figure out and would appreciate some help.
I want to key a range of dates, (7/1/09-7/12/09) then write a macro to go find the info for that range and bring it back to my spread sheet.
Thanks for any help....
@Glenn: you can try a user defined function if the information you want to gather can be derived only from the 2 dates entered. You can write a macro, if you need to refer to other ranges in the workbook to gather the info based on the dates entered. I am not sure what you meant by "go find the info for that range". May be if you tell what you are trying to find, I can suggest the approach for writing a macro...
[...] Important excel formulas: IF and Then, Vlookup, Offset, Sumif, Countif, Working with date and time [...]
[...] Tips on using date & time in excel, List of excel date & time formulas, More excel quick tips [...]
talking about dates, therz a formula that i use very frequently to calculate the difference between two dates.
its not documented in 2007 though
=DATEDIF(START_DATE,END_DATE,"Y") - gives you the years
=DATEDIF(START_DATE,END_DATE,"YM") - remaining months
=DATEDIF(START_DATE,END_DATE,"MD") - remaining days
im sure you'll know this. wonder why it isnt documented. works fine with 2003 and 2007
[...] free downloads | working with date and time in excel tweetmeme_source = 'r1c1'; tweetmeme_style = [...]
[...] Working with Dates & Times in Excel – 10 tips [...]
Help please... I have two dates eg: 1/8/10 - 10/8/10 and i would like to know the number of Fridays and Mondays in any given period
Ray
Try the following user defined function:
===
Function NoMonFri(uStart As Range, uEnd As Range, Optional uType As Integer) As Double
Count = 0
For i = uStart To uEnd Step 1
If Weekday(i) = 2 Or Weekday(i) = 6 Then Count = Count + 1
Next i
If uType = 1 Then
If Weekday(uStart) = 2 Or Weekday(uStart) = 6 Then Count = Count - 1
If Weekday(uEnd) = 2 Or Weekday(uEnd) = 6 Then Count = Count - 1
End If
NoMonFri = Count
End Function
====
Copy the above into a Code Module
To use just enter
=NoMonFri(A1, A2) or
=NoMonFri(A1, A2,1)
Where A1 & A2 are the Start and End Dates (inclusively)
The use of the optional 1 will Exclude the Start and End dates
@Ray... You can also do this using SUMPRODUCT (ahem)
Assuming first date is in C6 and second date is in C7,
=SUMPRODUCT(--(MOD(WEEKDAY(ROW(INDIRECT(C6&":"&C7)),2),4)=1))
Will give you the number of Mondays and Fridays between C6 and C7 (including both days)
Also, checkout NETWORKINGDAYS() UDF for more complicated counting... http://chandoo.org/wp/2009/06/09/networkingdays/
[...] Process your data: Assuming your data looks like what I shown to left, just use simple formulas to make it look like the table to right. [related: how to work with dates & times in excel] [...]
very useful tip, thanks alot
Hello Chandoo,
How to convert no into time. for ex: 3600(In Seconds) into 1:00:00
Thanks,
Chandra Shekar B
@Chandra
Times are a fraction of 1
So 6am is 0.25
12 noon is 0.5
6pm is 0.75
So convert hrs and mins to a fraction of 24 hrs
1 Hr = 1/24
3600 seconds = 3600/(24*3600)
etc
Hello Hui,
Thanks a lot 🙂
Hello,
I cant get Point 6 above to work (highlighting weekends).
Is there an actual example I can see in action anywhere?
Otherwise a very helpful and informative website.
Regards,
Patrick
Hi Chandoo,
When discussing about time.. I have one question too. Basically, I have one sheet in which we enter "Shift IN" & "Shift OUT" times as "hh:mm" format in A and B columns and next columns C & D pulls the scheduled and present count of agents from other sheet by VLOOKUP-ing times as
IN time (hh:mm) - OUT Time (hh:mm). For eg; 03:30 - 12:30
Columns A and B have been validated to accept only values between 00:00~23:30 (half hour intervals). and when pasting data, the values are usually accepted and I don't get any errors of validation.
But, when performing vlookup to get the number of scheduled agents say as of the time interval 03:30, I get an #N/A error. I have confirmed ranges are all fine, but what I found is that the time although shows same but they are actually of different days. Say for eg;
41023.39583 gives 9:30
41024.39583 gives 9:30 too..
Validation is accepted as time is same, and it works fine if I select the time interval from the validation list. So, was wondering, if I can select the same interval from the list using VBA.. so that whatever the time intervals gets updated, I just need to run a macro to automatically select the interval from the validation list.. I have come across that we can use Cell.Validation.Formula1 in some manner to get the item from list.. but it would take the number of the item in the list.. wondered if I could get the item through text. Any ideas to accomplish this task?
Regards,
Avinash
in time - 9:30 am on 11/24/2015
out time - 6:30 am on 11/25/2015
I have to calculate total hours worked.
Tell me the formula to calculate the total hours, please.
hi,
can you help me in, i just want to know how will i get the corresponding DAY when i entered a specific DATE?
Thanks,
Sheila
Hi,
Following could be a solution for findinng out correspoinding Day, Month & Year to a Date:
=TEXT("CELL ADDRESS WHERE DATE IS PLACED","DDDD") ..... For Day
=TEXT("CELL ADDRESS WHERE DATE IS PLACED","MMMM") ..... For Month
=TEXT("CELL ADDRESS WHERE DATE IS PLACED","YYYY") ..... For Year
One can also customized the view by reducing keywords which will promopt to the following results : Mon, J, Jan, 2007, 07 etc
hi,
sir can u help me,
how to set a validity period & date of time in microsoft excel.
eg:- suppose i m using a file sheet and setting a date of 01.04.2012, time 12.00am & wan't dat the sheet should stop working in 1 month date & time ( 30.04.2012 ).
eg :- suppose we are going internet cafe dere we are taking a browsing of 1hour time, as we r close 2 our time d browsing stop working.
in dis way i wan't sheet to be set by date & time.
so pls help me how to do.
thanks,
navin.
Hi,
Sir ur article is very helpful....Thnaks for that but i need ur help in this one. i have a monthly report workbook and the sheets are saved by date of that month. I have two cells FromDate and ToDate through which opening and closing stock is calculated(using =SUM('01-09-2012:25-09-2012'!D7)+ SUM('26-09-2012:30-09-2012'!D8)) .....Please give me a formula when i will enter any date in ToDate or FromDate cell it will automatically change the other cells formula so to give me sum.
please help me
thanks
Suyash
Hi Mr. Chandoo,
I have 1 question. I have 1 pivot table, successfully done with your guidelines, but how to set Sunday as the start week? means the start day is Sunday, and the end day of the week is Saturday.
TQ in advance.
can someone please tell me that if i want the date of the month to appear on each sheet of my workbook how do i do it by itself? i mean the workbook is of meeting room bookings... so i want to print out sheets date wise for a whole year/
[...] So the formula for end time cell is =start-time + duration-minutes / 24 / 60. Note: We need to divide by 24 & 60 because in Excel each day 1 number, each hour is 1/24th and each minute is 1/24/60th. [learn more about Excel dates] [...]
dear friends, please help me to calculate actual time within the range while actual time more or less of range?
TIME IN
TIME OUT
ACTUAL HRS
ACUTAL HRS WITHIN RANGE (7:30:00 to 18:00:00)
7:15:00
18:15:00
11:00:00
?
7:45:00
17:00:00
9:15:00
?
@Niyas
You may want to start having a read of: http://chandoo.org/wp/2010/06/01/date-overlap-formulas/
[...] INTEREST Date with my sheet – 10 tips on using date / time in excel http://chandoo.org/wp/2008/07/29/excel-keyboard-shortcuts/ [...]
If I have dates in Indian format dd-mm-yyyy, excel is not recognizing the same and instead treating the same as mm-dd-yyyy so a date mentioned in Indian system as 09/06/2013 is being treated as 6-Sep-2013 whereas it actually represents 9-Jun-2013.
Can I convert these dates in Indian format to corrected dd-mmm-yyyy system?
Chandoo,
Please i need an advise ASAP i have been using this statement and it cant help
if(and(c1>=a1:a144,c1<=b1:b144),"yes","no"))
and it just works for the first 2 values c1, c2 and doesn't fit for the others.
the case is i have more than one event at the same video and i need to confirm that no event was taken unless it is between start and end.
here are some samples:
Start dtime End Dtime Event Dtime
16/09/2013 22:13:34 16/09/2013 22:14:18 16/09/2013 22:13:38
16/09/2013 22:15:57 16/09/2013 22:24:30 16/09/2013 22:16:02
16/09/2013 22:24:30 16/09/2013 22:33:49 16/09/2013 22:17:32
16/09/2013 22:33:53 16/09/2013 22:35:05 16/09/2013 22:19:02
16/09/2013 22:35:05 16/09/2013 22:39:57 16/09/2013 22:20:02
So as you can see there are more than one event between one start and end dtimes
thanks guys
[…] Using Date & Time in Excel […]
[…] Using Date & Time in Excel […]
Hi Chandoo,
I have an activity tracking sheet, in which column A has activity A, B, C, D & E and column B has start date, column C has start time, column D has end date & column E has end time. Now what i am trying to do is that suppose activity A starts on 31-Mar 9:00 AM and finishes an 4-Apr 5:00 PM and Activity B starts only after A completes, but if suppose Activity A is delayed by say 1 hour, then activity B, C, D & E which are all dependent on each other will also be delayed by 1 hour, i want to create a template in excel, could you please help?
thanks
Chandresh
[…] Day 32 Date and time arithmetic - The symbols / and – need to be used when inputting dates and Excel has the capability to add dates and times together too. Follow the Excel Easy article here on how http://www.excel-easy.com/functions/date-time-functions.html Chandoo also has some Top 10 tips too http://chandoo.org/wp/2008/08/26/date-time-tips-ms-excel/ […]
Hi,
What will b the formula to get the date more than 3 yrs from the present date ?
Example : today is 16-05-2014 (D-M-Y) then three yrs later what will be the date.
Hi,
What will b the formula to get the date more than 3 yrs from the present date ?
Example : today is 16-05-2014 (D-M-Y) then three yrs later what will be the date.
@Roken
I would use: =EDATE(A1,36)
Where A1 has your date
or
=EDATE("16/5/2014",36)
or
=EDATE(Today(),36)
hi..i want to restrict excel from counting non working time.... so i can prepare end dates for a PROJECT if i have total working hours required for my project..
thank for reply if any....
Hi,
Good Morning,
Please use the formula for the below mentioned format in excel.
Formula :- =TEXT(H3,"dd-mmmm-yyyy").
Format :- 17-September-2014
I'm an evaluator and i evaluate about 20 people everymonth between 6-10 times each depending on their performance. i track my work in excel by adding the dates i did each peorson. The only rule that i have its that i cant evaluate a person back to back so i have to wait at least one day in between each evaluation. is there a formula where excel would not allow me to enter a date if its one day after the date of the cell to the left?
@Andres
To add one day to a an existing date
=Date + 1
=A10+1
Could anyone please help me. I have not been able to find a format that I need. I need to subtract a value everyday. Example. If I have 365 dollars and I would like Excell to subtract 1 dollar everyday for a year I would have 0 dollars left at the end. Or even 7 dollars a week would work for me. Could anyone please help me on this formula. Thanks
@Jayson
If you have the value 365 in cell A2
In A3 enter: =A2-1
Then copy A3 down 364 cells
Is there a simple way (no function) to define a formula in a cell like =F(22/08/2014) ?
Currently, i put the date 22/08/2014 in a cell eg. B2 and do my formula a =F(B2).
Thanks
Hai,
I am sathis Kumar , i want to subtract two dates in xl sheet from 05/11/2013 to 30/04/2014 . now i want two days between how many month
DOJ DOL Experince
01/11/2013 05/06/2014 = (05/06/2014 - 01/11/2013)
@Boostsathis
Put your two Dates into separate cells A1 and A2
Then simply =A2-A1
Thank u ,
I try but (30-04-14(-)5-11-13) = 176.0 but two days between months 6 only , what a formula
5-Nov-2013 30-Apr-2014 = 176.00
boostsathis.....
@Boostsathis
Try: =DATEDIF(A1,A2,"ym")
Refer: http://www.cpearson.com/excel/datedif.aspx
Sir, I am trying to figure out how I can prevent user to enter duplicate date (in a pre booking template). The conditions are
1) User A can put a single date or a date range
2) Other user can't pick any day in between whatever user A had chosen
3) A date picker calendar always shows only next 20 days date
Can you please help me
thanks in advance
Dear Sir,
I am trying to update a 2014 historical facts calendar (It has a fact for every day of the entire year.) to reflect the new dates and days of the week for 2015. Is there a single formula I can enter to shift the dates ahead for the entire annual calendar, or do I need to execute a formula at each month's start? Either way, I am also in need of a formula to achieve this.
Thanks for your help.
[…] Date with my sheet – 10 tips on using date / time in excel – Excel date time features are very handy and knowing them a little in depth can help you save a ton of time in your day to day spreadsheet chores…. […]
sir, suppose a date are given in a cell A1 = 20/04/2013... and suppose I want to add 10 years or 10 years and 07 month then how can I add the above ........ so that I Show 21/04/2023..... please justifiee.. sir...
@Lalit
If A1 has a date 20/04/2013
simply
=A1+date(10,0,0) for +10 Years
=A1+date(10,7,0) for +10 Years, 7 Months
=A1+date(10,7,5) for +10 Years, 7 Months 5 days etc
@Lalit
If you want to be more precise
=A1+date(0,120,0) for +10 Years
=A1+date(0,127,0) for +10 Years, 7 Months
=A1+date(0,127,5) for +10 Years, 7 Months 5 days etc
and suppose... tow dates are given .. 20/04/2013 and 27/08/2003.. then how can seprate (-) kare so that the answer should be return in month.. ... it anser of both question are possible to sent the mention email then pls sent the answer in mention e-mail... .. I shall be highly obeliged ...
Dear Sir,
What is the formula using the Data Validation function at excel, to restrict a cell to accept only 2 days of the months (1st and 16th of the month)? Appreciate your kind help. Thanks.
Hi Pro, i want to find day if given date and weekday. example : Given Tuesday, 31week, 2015 year. Result is 28/7/2015, pls help me!
[…] Date and Time Formulas […]
please help
i trying to write a formula for dates
i have a initial date and i am trying to auto populate for 6 months out and one for 9 months out and have the 6 months out change color and when it is 9 months out change another color
please help
I have an Excel workbook for Study room bookings and within it I have 6 worksheets Monday thru Saturday. Without having to create 365 worksheets with individual dates on them what formula can I print these worksheets with the dates for the remaining days of the year automatically populated or is it possible?
Is there a way to take 2 dates and subtract the newest date from the oldest to get the number of days difference? I tried the one that it says on this page but it didn't work.
@Elyse
I would use =ABS(A1-A2)
That way it doesn't matter which date is oldest
The cell should be formatted as [d]
how to highlight days a month which is greater than 10th of every month
Hi,
How can 1 cell can put 2 dates by date format.
I have the problem of 1 customer make 2 times payment.
I can only record as 01/06/2016 & 02/06/16.
The problem is when i filter that cell can't appear
@Jenny
It is poor practice to store multiple records in one cell
It is much easier to store multiple records ion multiple rows
That also allows flexibility in reporting
When entering data in a record that is mostly similar to the record above, you can use the Ctrl+D shortcut, This duplicates the cell directly above you speeding up data entry
Hello,
Could you please tell me the solution to this? I have spent months, years, looking for it...
When I press ctrl+; to enter the date in a cell, I want it to enter d/M/yy. My short date in windows regional settings is d/M/yy. Excel enters d/M/yyyy. The cells must be formatted as text they cannot be formatted as date. I do not want to have to macro-enable my workbooks, There must be a setting in the registry to set this?
Alternatively, how can I assign that key to my own shortcut for a macro to enter NOW with custom date format? Can't find that either!
I hope you can help!
Many thanks
how to shift date to the next working day if time goes after the working hour. if cell a1 has reference date and time i.e. 04/02/2017 12:30:00
and cell b1 has working duration i.e. 7 hours . it shows in cell C3 04/02/2017 19:30:00 but 19:30:00 is not our working time. i want to show the value of plan date as 05/02/2017 11:30:00 . working time id 09:00:00 to 17:00:00
Thanks
No Comments at this time
I have to develop Calendar in Excel considering Monday being the First day of week . How I can develop the same ? Please provide me guidance .
Hi Chandoo!
I export incident data daily to Excel 2016 and the dates are text (e.g. 8 Apr 2018). I changed cell to short date field format, but it still recognises this as text until I 'F2' then 'Enter' in each cell. Is there a more efficient way to do this; I have 3 columns of dates and about 1000 lines of data.
I need it to be dates so I can then create pivot tables and charts from the data.
Many thanks,
Kirst.
Hi Kirst
You can use Data-Text To Column to change one column at a time.
You only need to change the Column Data Format - Date to DMY and click Finish.
Thank you very much!
some things I find useful:
INT this will give you the date part of a datetime field
MOD this will give you the time part of a datetime field
if you had
21/06/2018 10:25:00
in cell a1
then =INT(A1) would give you 21/06/2018
and = mod(a1,0) would give you 10:25:00
oSUM!
The most important thing is if you do any calculations you need to be careful, given the vagaries of floating point math.
e.g. depending on the day you choose, 4pm minus 3pm may be less than, equal to, or greater than one hour.
Results in some infuriatingly subtle bugs when you forget!
Wow! Came here from India's top blogs and this is superb! For some reason, dates have always confounded me in Excel and this was exactly what I needed - esp the section on adding and subtracting dates. Thanks a ton!
Hi,
I have a mixed combinations of date format in one column i.e. 'dd/mm/yy' and 'mm/dd/yy'. How do I make them all in the same format, either all in 'dd/mm/yy' format, or all 'mm/dd/yy' format? Thanks in advance!
@Kale
Select the whole range
Then apply a Custom Number format (Ctrl+1)
want to conditional format and highlight all sunday and only second and fourth saturday in the list of given dates
Hey
have can i work with this time format
tt:mm:ss,000
I want to develop a formula that will enter a an(hour and minute-not to change) in a cell when any data is entered in another specific cell. This will be used to determine lengths of time between three events
Thanks,
Tom
I need to input in Excel formula for the date as follow: 2019/2020. The period for each year is July - June. I would need a formula that can change each period.
I need to input in Excel formula for the date as follow: 2019/2020. The period for each year is July - June. I would need a formula that can change each period.
The formula for date to change each year November 1, Year.
Hi,
Option 1 is very much helpful for me.
I look this type of formula on google since many times but not satisfied.
Finally I found it.
Thank you ?so much,
Kamlesh Dantani
Great website. These excel formulas, not just this page, have been super helpful while going through old spreadsheets and finding data. Thanks for the info.
Very informative. Date functions are very important. I frequently visit your articles...awesome. Go ahead.
Nice content, keep sharing with us.
Hi Chandoo,
Need a small help to build a formula where we can show the date of Monday i.e. start of week date from time stamp for eg "3/2/2022 9:21 PM" or either from "Week 10'2022" where Week is for entire year i.e till week 52/53 and "2022" represents the year
Thanks in advance
Best
Sid
Hello,
is the format of date case sensitive dd and DD are the same???