Often when you need to generate a sample from large data set, you may want to pick data from a random date. In such cases, you can use excel’s RAND() and RANDBETWEEN() formulas [syntax and help] to pick a random date.
Here I have included few examples,
To pick a random date in the last one month:
=TODAY() - RANDBETWEEN(0,30)
or
=TODAY() - RAND()*30
To pick a random date in the next one month:
=TODAY() + RANDBETWEEN(0,30)
or
=TODAY() + RAND()*30
To pick a random date in the last one year:
=TODAY() - RANDBETWEEN(0,365)
or
=TODAY() - RAND()*365
To pic a random time of day:
=RAND()
Make sure you format the cell to show value as date (or time) to see the outcome. Also, if you have not turned on the Analysis toolpak, the RANDBETWEEN formula will not work.
More on picking random stuff:
Random phone number | Shuffle a list | More on Random Formulas
PS: If you are looking to pick up a random date, what are you doing here?
