Use MAX to find latest date in a list [Quick tip]

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Here is a quick tip that I learned while conducting training classes in Australia.

If you have several dates in a range and you want to find out what the latest date is, just use MAX, like:

=MAX(A1:A10) would give you the latest date.

A Question…,

Assuming you have some dates (not necessarily sorted) in column A, which formula finds the last date (not latest)?
Bonus question: What if there are some gaps (cells with no value)? How would you find the last date?

Go ahead and post your answers in comments. Or share your favorite formula to find latest date in a range.

PS: My Australian trip is over now. On a train from Melbourne to Sydney now and will be leaving to Vizag via Bangkok (and Hyderabad) early tomorrow morning. I am very happy how the whole thing went. More on this later next week.

PPS: More tips on dealing with date & time values in Excel

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15 Responses to “Christmas Gift List – Set your budget and track gifts using Excel”

  1. [...] Christmas Gift List – Set your budget and track gifts using Excel … [...]

  2. JP says:

    I'm confused: if you spend $10, and your budget is $40, shouldn't the amount in the "Within Budget?" column stay black, since you didn't go over budget?

    In other words, since we overspent on the electronic photo frame, shouldn't the $8 cell turn red?

  3. Chandoo says:

    @JP.. maybe Steven is encouraging consumerism... ?

    I havent realized it earlier, but now I see it. If you unprotect the sheet, you can change the formula in Column I to =IF(G13=0;" ";F13-G13) from =IF(G13=0;" ";G13-F13), that should correct the behavior.

  4. JP says:

    Thanks Chandoo. I thought of making a shopping list spreadsheet for Christmas, but this is neat so I think I'll use this instead.

  5. chrisham says:

    Chandoo & Steven thanks for this spreadsheet. But for the sake of a person who has been staring at this megaformula in vain for the last 40 mins and not afraid to ask, would it be possible for you to walk us through the logic used here?

    =SUM(SUMPRODUCT(SUBTOTAL(3,OFFSET($K$13:$K$62,ROW($K$13:$K$62)-MIN(ROW($K$13:$K$62)),0,1)),--($K$13:$K$62="-"))+SUMPRODUCT(SUBTOTAL(3,OFFSET($K$13:$K$62,ROW($K$13:$K$62)-MIN(ROW($K$13:$K$62)),0,1)),--($K$13:$K$62="0")))&" / "&SUBTOTAL(2,$G$13:$G$62)

  6. Tea Bag.. says:

    Thanks Chandoo.. This is one of the best budget spreadsheets I've ever seen.. The Arrays are out of this world!! And it's FREE!!
    Chandoo, can you tell us more about Steven? Does he have his own site?

  7. Steven says:

    JP, I think Chandoo changed it when he changed the currency formatting from £ to $, a negative figure is a good thing in this case. But don't change the formulas, the overbudget and under budget won't work properly if you do. Also Chandoo I think you've accidentally broke the conditional formatting for the alternating row colouring the formula is different to the version I sent you. As for the megaformula chrisham, it gave me a headache trying to get it all working, so I will let Chandoo talk you through it.

  8. savithri says:

    Hi,
    In cells I6 and I7, I understand that subtotal together with offset function returns an array of ones after which, the sumproduct function gives the desired result.
    But I’m not able to figure out the reason for using an array in I8 to return the most expensive gift.
    Can’t the formula be just
    “=VLOOKUP(SUBTOTAL(4,$G$13:$G$62),$G$13:$J$62,4,0)”

  9. Steven says:

    Savithri, Cell I8 needs the array, if the formula was “=VLOOKUP(SUBTOTAL(4,$G$13:$G$62),$G$13:$J$62,4,0)” it would find the highest price from the filtered range (i.e. highest actual in filtered range is $50) BUT then return the first person with that actual, not looking in just the filtered range (so first person on the list with a $50 actual.)
    To see what I mean, change the formula, then change all the actuals to $50 then filter for baby, it lists the first name on the list.
    But a good question 🙂

  10. savithri says:

    Thank you. I now realise that the array is used to get the ‘filtered range’ instead of the entire range, as table array for look up value.

  11. AprMarie7 says:

    this looks like an awesome excel sheet!! is there anyway i can get it emailed to me unprotected? for some reason, i am unable to download it 🙁 help!!

  12. Danny says:

    Hi I also can not download to a mac as the sheet is protected any help would be great

  13. [...] to send her a pricey present. Rather, send a card with a picture of your child. Here’s a cool Excel sheet that will help you estimate your budget per person and let you track [...]

  14. [...] husband and I pour/poor over the Christmas spreadsheet (yes, I do know how dorky that sounds, but we’re not the only ones!), figuring out who should give what to whom. We live at a distance from most of our family, so it [...]

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