Today is February 29th, and that means, this year we have one more day to be awesome. So lets celebrate it in Excel style!
Lets learn 14 different ways to tell if an year is leap year, using Excel Formulas.
Why 14? because, we are awesome like that.
Why 14 methods to just find the year in cell D4 is leap year or not? Because, we all know that by learning different ways to solve a problem, we become smarter, more awesome and have more fun. So lets roll.
Before we start..,
Since all the 14 methods rely on certain calculations, I have created some names. See below:
All the names are self-explanatory, except the febDays. So lets take a look at it.
febDays formula
For one of the methods, we need to have all the dates in February in a list. If we want the first of Feb as a date, we can use =DATE(year,2,1). But we want all dates in February. That means, we need to use a list (array) in third parameter of DATE like this:
=DATE(year,2,{1,2,3,4,….,28,29})
Instead of typing all the 28/29 numbers, we can use ROW formula to generate these, like:
=ROW($A$1:$A$29) would give me a numbers from 1 thru 29.
But the problem is in many years Feb has only 28 days, and for rest, it has 29 days. So we modify the second part of row formula and use the last DAY of the Feb, like this:
=ROW($A$1: INDEX($A$1:$A$29,DAY(EOMONTH(feb1st,0))))
To get the last day of a month, we use = DAY(EOMONTH(1st date, 0))
I think you can put the rest of pieces together to solve this puzzle.
Moving on,
#1 – The year has 366 days
This is the obvious one. We use =DATE(year+1,1,1)-jan1st=366 to check if there are 366 days between January 1st of next year and this year.
#2 – February 29th is not March 1st
Because in Excel all dates are numbers, when we use a formula like =DATE(2011,2,29), Excel gives us the date of March 1st, even though we wanted 29th Day of February in 2011. So a simple leap year check is to see if February 29 is March 1st or not!
=DATE(year,2,29)<>mar1st
#3 – February has 29 days
This is another obvious test. In a leap year, February has 29 days. So=DAY(EOMONTH(feb1st,0))=29 will be true for leap years.
#4 – February 1st and March 1st are not on same day of week
In non leap years, Feb has 28 days (a multiple of 7), so both Feb and March start on same day of week. So, =WEEKDAY(feb1st)<>WEEKDAY(mar1st) will be TRUE for leap years.
#5 – Adding 365 to January 1st does not change year
Well, that is obvious too. =YEAR(jan1st)=YEAR(jan1st+365) is TRUE for leap years.
#6 – 30th Day of February is March 1st
If an year is leap year, 30th day of February [DATE(year,2,30)] is same as March 1st. So, =DATE(year,2,30)=mar1st is TRUE for leap years.
#7 – 0th Day of March is Feb 29th
In real world there is no zeroth day for any month. But in Excel, since all dates are numbers, 0th day refers to last day of previous month. So, =DAY(DATE(year,3,0))=29 will be TRUE in leap years.
#8 – April 1st and January 1st are on same day of week
In leap years, there are 91 days between January 1st and April 1st. And since 91 is a multiple of 7, both April 1st and January 1st start on same day of week. Hence, =WEEKDAY(jan1st)=WEEKDAY(apr1st) will be true for leap years.
#9 – Only 2 more months start on same day of week as January
In leap years, both April and July start on same day of week as January. (Where as in non-leap years, Only October starts on same day of week as Jan).
To test this, we will of course use the SUMPRODUCT. like this:
=SUMPRODUCT(–(WEEKDAY(DATE(year,ROW($A$2:$A$12),1))=WEEKDAY(jan1st)))=2
The portion WEEKDAY(DATE(year,ROW($A$2:$A$12),1)) gives all the first day of weeks from February to December. And then we just check how many of these are same as January 1st’s week day.
#10 – Next year’s February 1st and this year’s February 2nd are NOT on same day of week
In non-leap years, there are 364 days between February 2nd and next year’s February 1st. Since 364 is a multiple of 7, both of these days are on same day of week. Which is not the case in leap years (as the difference becomes 365). So, =WEEKDAY(feb1st+1)<>WEEKDAY(EDATE(feb1st,12)) will be TRUE for leap years.
#11 – February 1st’s day of week occurs 5 times in that month
This a bit tricky to test, but then again we have SUMPRODUCT. So, =SUMPRODUCT(–(WEEKDAY(febDays)=WEEKDAY(feb1st)))=5 will be TRUE for leap years. The name febDays has all dates in February. I think the rest is easy to understand.
#12 – February starts and ends on same day of week
29 days means both 1st and 29 are on same weekday. So, =WEEKDAY(feb1st)=WEEKDAY(EOMONTH(feb1st,0)) will be true for leap years.
#13 – Spreadsheet day (October 17) and February 1st are on same day of week
Debra, who is a well known Excel blogger & author started the whole spreadsheet day thing. She says, we should celebrate October 17 as spreadsheet day. I love that idea, mainly because, it is just 3 days before my birthday and I like celebrations. And I also like Excel 🙂 So blame her if you do not like this way of testing for leap years.
In leap years, there are 259 days between February 1st and October 17. And since 259 is a multiple of 7 (and 37), we know that they are both on same day of week. So, =WEEKDAY(feb1st)=WEEKDAY(DATE(year,10,17)) is true for leap years.
#14 – Finally, the year is divisible by 4 and if it is divisible by 100, then also by 400
Finally, we are going to test the whole “an year is leap year if it is divisible by 4 and if it is divisible by 100, then it is also divisible by 400” thing. This is a slightly tricky one to test. The formula, =((MOD(year,4)=0)*((MOD(year,100)<>0)+(MOD(year,400)=0))=1) will be TRUE for leap years and false for non-leap years.
Download Leap Year Test Workbook
Click here to download the workbook with all these 14 examples. Play with the formulas, named ranges to understand these techniques.
How do you check it is a leap year?
If you are working and you get paid on first day of a month, then one clear way of knowing leap year is that you get your salary one day later. Other than this, what method would you use to find if an year is leap year. Go ahead and be creative. Share your ideas and formulas using comments. Next leap day is 4 years away. Go
Want to learn how to Dates & Times in Excel – Read these:
If you deal with data that has a lot of date / time stuff, then understanding various Excel features in this area is a must. Read below pages to learn more.
- 10 tips on working with dates & times in Excel
- Calculate difference between 2 dates
- Find thanksgiving day for any year
- Check if 2 ranges of dates overlap
- Rolling months in Excel
- How to convert text to dates
- Even more on Excel dates & times
Want to master Date & Other Excel Formulas?
If you want to learn how various formulas in this post work and know more about everyday Excel formulas, please consider joining my Excel Formula crash course. It has detailed video tutorials on more than 40 everyday Excel formulas and teaches you all the powerful techniques to become a formula ninja.
39 Responses to “11 very useful excel keyboard shortcuts you may not know”
You asked about a favorite keyboard shortcut: I often right click the navigation arrows at the bottom of an Excel workbook to get a list of the worksheets. I can click the one I want without having to scroll left or right.
I regularly use the networkdays(x,y,z) function to show the number of working days between two given dates. To exclude public holidays I reference a list of dates ("z" in the above reference) which I periodically update to reflect upcoming non-working days. To keep the sheet looking tidy for other users, I like to hide this column when I'm done, and then unhide it when I update the sheet.
With 40 separate workbooks to edit, these shortcuts make it a breeze...
? Hide selected column: CTRL+0 [zero]
? Unhide hidden column(s) within selection: CTRL+SHIFT+) [closed parenthesis]
If an "Autofit Selection" keyboard shortcut (not just a key sequence) existed, I'd be as happy as a clam!
you can use Alt+o+c+a to autofit selection
Is there a way to auto arrange the column width as you enter the data. Without a macro
You may use alternative key of hide the selected cell by ---print + H key
Unhide---prnt+U keys
You may use alternative key of hide the selected cell by ---print + H key
Unhide---prnt+U keys
[...] 11 very useful excel keyboard shortcuts you may not know [...]
[...] 11 very useful excel keyboard shortcuts [...]
[...] an Excel Conditional Formatting Rock Star 11 very useful excel keyboard shortcuts 73 Free Designer Quality Excel Chart Templates Tracking mutual fund / Stock portfolios using Excel [...]
Hello Chandoo, thanks for sharing this information. With some of the shortcuts I seem to have difficulties as they do not seem to work on the German keyboard.
Can you maybe verify that those combos are only working with the keyboard setup you are using? What would be a good source to lookup combinations for other layouts?
Regards, 1xoid1
@1xoid1 ... Thanks for visiting PHD and taking timeout to ask your question. Unfortunately all my German can be summarized to one phrase: "guten tag".
I wont be able to help you, but I can request other readers to respond. So if you know German or use German keyboard and can answer 1xoid1's question, then you get a free donut.
Guten Tag 🙂
To Sam Krysiak.
Shortcut to Autofit Selection (assuming you mean autofit columns). If you right click toolbar, click customise. From Commands tab/Categories select Built-in Menus.
In Categories window scroll down and select Columns and drag drop it onto toolbar. Then click the new toolbar Columns button and drag drop Autofit button onto your toolbar (note Autofit for Columns will no longer appear in your menus, only on toolbar).
Remove Columns button from toolbar (if you want to keep clutter down) drag and drop it off of your toolbar.
Close Customise box.
Now to Autofit columns just press "Alt" then "A".
Comment 8 correction - 2nd paragraph should read
"In Commands window...
@1xoid1:
Read the following text as follows: The key ,[;] is the one right to the M on the German keyboard. Here are the differences you have to know when using a German keyboard:
2. Press strg .[:] for inserting the current date (and strg shift .[:] for inserting current time)
3. Press strg ,[;] to copy values from cell above
8. Press strg shift –[_] to apply an outline border
10. Press strg-shift S to activate the font drop down (Schriftgroesse)
11. Press strg-shift G to activate the font size (Groesse)
Number 10 and 11 do not work with Excel 2007 anymore, but strg-shift-P shows the font tab of the cell format dialogue in Excel 2007.
All other shortcuts should work on a German keyboard exactly as Chandoo described them.
More information needed? Download a complete list with all shortcuts for Microsoft Excel in German (for free):
http://www.freeware-download.com/downloaddetails/5655.html
@Chandoo: please do not send a donut, unless you are able to attach one to an email. Otherwise the donut might be able to walk by itself, when it arrives here in Germany...
I forgot to mention:
For all readers using an English keyboard: Chip Pearson offers a comprehensive list of Excel shortcuts on the English keyboard:
http://www.cpearson.com/excel/ShortCuts.aspx
[...] your own keyboard shortcuts in Excel 2007, knowing a few keyboard shortcuts in excel is a huge help. Lyte Byte describes a nifty way to create your own key board shortcuts in [...]
[...] Select a bunch of cells and click on the Sigma symbol on the standard tool bar. Alternatively you can use Alt+= keyboard shortcut. [...]
I do some data entries column A,column B ,Column C , A and B have 10 to 12 digit codes , C has the names ; Kindly suggest me a format or formula for excel to avoid duplication of entries in all the the three columns.
Regards,
Prashant
@Prashant... You can use conditional formatting to highlight duplicate entries in the three columns. That way whenever you type a dupe value in a cell the formatting would highlight the values so that you can avoid the error.
check this post for more on using this way to handling duplicates: http://chandoo.org/wp/2008/03/13/want-to-be-an-excel-conditional-formatting-rock-star-read-this/
If you are looking for a way to remove duplicates from an existing range, you can try one of the various techniques we have described here. Try these tips:
http://chandoo.org/wp/2008/11/06/unique-duplicate-missing-items-excel-help/
http://chandoo.org/wp/2008/08/01/15-fun-things-with-excel/
[...] good alternative (although manual) is to use keyboard shortcuts CTRL + ; or CTRL + : to insert current date and time in the active cell. Since this places the [...]
Your site doesn't correctly work in safari browser
Hi GesyimmeliA: Can you tell me which version of Safari on which OS has this problem. I use Macbook at home and loaded the site quite often in Safari and never seen any layout or content issues. Are you facing any script issues while posting comments or somethings like that ?
Hey Chandoo. Great site. Learning lots.
My favorite Excel shortcut has got to be Alt+Down when over an autofilter drop down. Learning that changed my life. That was one of the last things I needed to use a mouse for. Changed my life.
[...] are a big advocate of keyboard shortcuts. I think learning a handful of keyboard shortcuts can improve your productivity tremendously, [...]
My favourit keyboard shortcut is control and 1 (use the 1 above the letters on the keyboard, not the number pad) for format cells.
Favourite shortcut: alt + shift + right/left arrow for grouping/ungrouping!
[...] Select a bunch of cells and click on the Sigma symbol on the standard tool bar. Alternatively you can use Alt+= keyboard shortcut. [...]
[...] clicking on these: excel keyboard shortcuts, excel mouse tips & tricks, excel productivity tips part 1 & part [...]
Martin Williamson thanks for the autofit tip! You rock.
In order to generate charts/bar graph with a single key:
1. Select the data
2. Press F11
3. Magic.... 🙂
F3 = Paste a Name or the entire list of Names
Crtl + F3 = Name Manager
Crtl + : = Inserts current time.
F12 = Save As
Mistake!
Crtl + Shift + : = Inserts current time.
SIR U R THE BEST PERSON WHO SHARES A WONDERFULL AND IMPORTANT TIPS IN EXCEL. THANKS AND KEEP ROCKING.
How do i hide / unhide a work sheet using the keyboard.
Great!
Other useful excel shortcuts
http://webtutorialplus.blogspot.com/2012/01/excel-quick-tip-useful-encoding-hotkeys.html
input in one cell 1a23bc output in two cell one of 123 and other one is abc how to possible, please help me.
Hey cool shortcuts but excel have more shortcuts then you listet.
i find a big database of supportet shortcuts for Excel 2007 here
http://www.veodin.com/excel-2007-shortcuts/
[...] INTEREST Date with my sheet – 10 tips on using date / time in excel http://chandoo.org/wp/2008/07/29/excel-keyboard-shortcuts/ [...]
Great article with some very useful follow-up comments and tips.
One simple question … how do you vertically align the drop-down filter button in a cell with a larger than normal height?
It’s easy enough to do so with a cell’s contents but the drop-down filter button stubbornly remains at the bottom and I need it at the top!
I’ve looked everywhere and haven’t located an explanation to what I am sure is considered an Excel basic.
Cheers