Do you need to know how many days are between two dates? If you have to figure out how long before a payment is due, how long it takes to manufacture a product, how many days shipping took, or how long before a perishable product is out of date then this tip will help you.
Before you begin type in this data to a new spreadsheet:
| A | B | C | D | |
| 1 | Date | Amount | EndPeriod | 3/31/2009 |
| 2 | 9/10/2008 | 190.23 | ||
| 3 | 11/4/2008 | 35.46 | ||
| 4 | 11/5/2008 | 26.87 | ||
| 5 | 11/6/2008 | 46.20 | ||
| 6 | 12/1/2008 | 36.31 | ||
| 7 | 12/2/2008 | 47.32 |
1. To determine the difference between two dates, click in cell A10, type the equal (=) sign, click in cell A7 (cell containing the ending date), type the subtraction symbol(hyphen), and then click in cell A2 (cell containing the starting date).
2. Press Enter on the keyboard.
3. To view the result as a number, select the cell.
4. On the Format menu, click Cells (Excel 2007: Home tab, click on Format drop-down in the Cells group, and choose Format Cells).
5. Click the Number tab in the Format Cells dialog box.
6. Choose Number in the Category list box, change the Decimal places to zero (0), and then click OK.
7. To determine the number of days between the current date and a future date, click in cell A11, begin by typing the equal (=) sign, type D1 (cell containing the future date), and type the minus (-) sign;
8. On the Insert menu, click Function (Excel 2007: Formulas tab, click Insert Function).
9. Choose the Date & Time category from the “Or select a category” drop-down arrow.
10. Select the Today function in the Select a function list box and then click OK.
11. Click OK on the Function Argument dialog box to complete the formula.
12. Repeat steps three (3) through six (6) to format the result as a number.
