Ever wanted to get a set of dates, but don’t want to manually type? Here are three ways to insert dates in Excel automatically.
Option1: Enter a start date and Drag down
This is the easiest option if you just want a handful of dates. Just type in your starting date in a cell. Click in the bottom right corner of cell and drag down to get the next consecutive dates automatically.
Here is a quick demo of how to do this:
Insert just weekdays only
While dragging the dates, you can ask Excel to just insert weekdays only. This is helpful for creating dates for a project tracker or planner or other kinds of spreadsheets. To do this, after dragging your dates, click on the “options” button that appears at the bottom and select “Fill Weekdays Only” option.
See this demo:
Fill Dates in Months
You can also fill dates by Months. For this, just type the first date, drag down and use the “options” button to select “Fill Months” option. See this demo:
Automatic PayDays (or any other dates really!)
We can use the “dragging” mechanism to fill any kind of arbitrary dates too. Say, you want to see all the Pay Days in 2025. Type in the very first Pay Day (first Wednesday of the calendar year for example) and then, in the cell underneath, write the formula =cellabove+14 (replace cellabove with the actual address of the cell). Then drag this new cell down as far as you want.
See this quick demo:
Option 2: Using the “Fill Series” Secret Menu
Excel also offers a fairly powerful and easy way to fill dates if you want to get a large series of dates for a work project or spreadsheet. This is called “Fill Series” menu. This menu is hidden (buried really) but super helpful. Here is the step by step process:
- Type the very first date of your series of dates in a cell.
- Select a range big enough for all your dates. Tip: If you have a large series of dates to fill, just select all the cells in the column until end.
- Press the keyboard shortcut sequence
ALT H FI Sor Go to File Ribbon > Fill > Fill Series button - Select “Date” and specify the “date unit” from the choices – Day, Weekday, Month or Year.
- Enter the “step value” and “stop value” (tip: Use Step Value of 7 to get days filled by week, 14 for fortnight)
- Click “OK” to see the magic. The dates are filled by Excel automatically.
See this quick GIF to understand the whole process.
Related: Learn about fill-series option in Excel
Option 3: Using SEQUENCE Formula
This one is for hardcore Excel fans and people who love to automate things. We can use the “new” SEQUENCE function of Excel to auto generate dates from any starting point until any end point. The formula is really easy to use and offers a ton of flexibility when it comes to building date trackers, project sheets or even financial models.
Let me share two simple yet powerful examples:
SEQUENCE Dates Example 1: All Dates in Year 2025
To generate all the dates in Year 2025, go to an empty cell and type the below formula.
= SEQUENCE(365,, DATE(2025,1,1))
Syntax of SEQUENCE to get dates automatically=SEQUENCE(number of days,,starting date, optional step value)
Tip: Use the step value of 14 to generate dates by fortnight.
Working Days only – SEQUENCE Example 2
Let’s say for an upcoming project you want to list all the working days only. But you don’t know when the project starts. So you want to keep the “starting date” flexible and generate next “n” working days.
Imagine the start date of the project in cell C4 and number of working days in C5.
We can use below SEQUENCE function to get all the working days in the project.
=WORKDAY.INTL(C4,SEQUENCE(C5))
Bonus Tip: How to Set “Custom” Weekend Types
We can use WORKDAY.INTL function to tell Excel when your weekend is. For example if your weekend is “Friday & Saturday”, you can use below syntax:=WORKDAY.INTL(C4,SEQUENCE(C5),7)
Here 7 stands for Friday & Saturday weekend.
Why I love SEQUENCE() approach
Of the 3 techniques outlined here, SEQUENCE() based approach is my favorite.
- Flexible: Many real-world scenarios where I need dates are dynamic. The starting date, end date, step value and what I need (days / weekdays / weeks / months) all change. Using SEQUENCE() I can create a robust yet flexible auto listing of dates for my workbooks.
- Can be linked to other formulas: As SEQUENCE generates a dynamic spill range, I can use # to access the range and build other scalable and flexible formulas. For example, if I want to calculate depreciation schedules for next “n” months, I can do so easily. When “n” changes, I don’t need to adjust anything as both my dates (from SEQUENCE) and depreciation calculations auto adjust.
- Fewer errors: Spillable formulas like SEQUENCE mean, there is only one formula that produce all the results. This avoids crazy errors like inconsistent formulas or hard-coded values.
- Faster: Dynamic formulas like SEQUENCE() are really fast and scale well even when I need to list dates for next century!
Related: Learn how to use SEQUENCE and other Dynamic Functions in Excel
Take Caution when using SEQUENCE()
- SEQUENCE function doesn’t format the dates. So you must format the cells after (or beforehand) to see the correct date format. Else Excel will list the dates as 45658, 45659 for 1-Jan-2025, 2-Jan-2025 etc.
- SPILL Errors: As SEQUENCE will dynamically fill the cells if your spreadsheet doesn’t have enough space for the SEQUENCE() to fill all dates, it will throw SPILL error.
- Can’t be used in Excel Tables: SEQUENCE and other dynamic functions don’t work inside Excel tables. Read this page for more information and possible fixes.
- Need Excel 365 or Excel on Web: To use SEQUENCE function, you need Excel 365 or Excel on the Web as this is a new functionality and not supported in older versions of Excel.
Working with Dates in Excel – More Tips & Tricks
Dates are integral part of any spreadsheet and data analysis scenario. Please refer to below pages and resources to learn more about important Date functions and tricks.
- Working With Date & Time values in Excel – A quick primer
- Date Calculation Tips (future / past dates and times made easy)
- Using Power Query to auto-generate Dates
- Free 2025 Calendar & Planner Template (uses SEQUENCE)
- Calculate difference between two dates
- Highlight Due Dates in Excel automatically
- 3 Powerful & Essential Date functions in Excel
18 Responses to “Best Charts to Compare Actual Values with Targets – What is your take?”
Great post. I can't vote, though, because the answer I want to put down is "it depends". As with all visualisations, you've got to take into account your audience, your purpose, technical skills, where it will be viewed, etc.
I'm with Andy: It depends. Some I would use, some I might use, some I won't touch with a barge pole.
Naturally I have comments 🙂
The dial gauge, though familiar, is less easy to read than a linear type of chart (thermometer or bullet). It's really no better than the traffic lights, because all it can really tell you is which category the point falls in: red, yellow, or green.
By the same token, pie charts are so familiar, people don't know they can't read them. Remember how long it takes kids to learn to read an analog clock?
Bullet charts don't show trends.
With any of the charts that have a filled component and a marker or ine component, it makes more sense to use the filled component (area/ column) for target, and the lines or markers for actual.
[...] Best Charts to Compare Actual values with Targets (or Budgets … [...]
I voted for #6 even though I agree with the other comments that it depends.
The majority of the votes are for the #2, thermometer chart. I still have yet to understand what happens when you are above plan/goal, which was brought up in yesterday's post.
Also, I agree with Jon in that it would be better to flip the series and make the filled part the target or goal and the line or marker the actual.
I am also a fan of using text when appropriate if the data is among other metrics in a type of dashboard. Calling it out by saying actual and % achievement is a good option.
Another "it depends" vote. Are you just looking at one or are you comparing a number of targets with actuals? You didn't include a text box. The problem with sentences is that they can get lost in a page of gray text. A text box can call attention to the numbers and line them up effectively.
I'm with Jon: "Some I would use, some I might use, some I won’t touch with a barge pole" and I'm surprised that some of your readers voted for the last group.
Jon says:
With any of the charts that have a filled component and a marker or line component, it makes more sense to use the filled component (area/ column) for target, and the lines or markers for actual.
Why does this make more sense? I like 6 the way it is, although I would use a heavy dash for the plan/target marker.
"It depends" is also my take. What I usually try to drill into my clients dashboard design is the fu ndamental difference between spot results (am I on target for this month) and long term trends.. I always try to create 3 different set of graphs to represent real perormance:
- spot results vs objectives
- cumulative results vs objectives
- long-term trend (moving average) mostly) to see where we're going
[...] Best Charts to Compare Actual Values with Targets – What is your take? (tags: excel charts) [...]
[...] Related: Charting Principles, How to compare actual values with budgets [...]
[...] Excel Charting Alternatives to compare values [...]
Jon says:
With any of the charts that have a filled component and a marker or line component, it makes more sense to use the filled component (area/ column) for target, and the lines or markers for actual.
Why does this make more sense? I like 6 the way it is, although I would use a heavy dash for the plan/target marker.
I totally agree, Bob. I would normally favour a line for the target and a column for the actual, you can see quite easily then which columns break through the line, then.
[...] best charts to compare actual values with targets — den Status mal anders zeigen, z. B. als Tacho [...]
Thermometer charts: "Not appropriate when actual values exceed targets" - this is easily solved by making the "mercury" portion a different color from the border, then you can clearly see where the expected range ends and the actual values keep going.
People seem to knock gauges quite a bit in dashboarding, but trying to show comparison of realtime data between operating sites and targets for each site can easily be done with a bank of gauges that have the optimal operating points at 12 o'clock.
The human eye is great at pattern stripping, and any deviation of a gauge from the expected 12 position will quickly register with an operator and attract his attention. Using a colour background, or meter edge, will also indicate the sensitivity of a particular site.
[…] Best charts to compare actual with target values […]
[…] Best charts to compare actual with target values […]
[…] work laptop I have a favorites folder just dedicated to Excel charts. Its got things like “Best Charts to Compare Actuals vs Targets” and “Best charts to show progress“. I love me some charts […]
I am wondering how will the plotting work, for some of the targets which may have been achieved before time. E.g. for the month of Jul the target was 226 and the actual was 219. So the chart will show a deficit in meeting the target by 7 points but what if this 7 may have been completed earlier in month of June. So ideally it not a deficit.