Microsoft Excel 2007/2008: Inserting Dates and Times (Win/Mac)

 Inserting Dates and Times

Excel offers several ways to include dates and times into your worksheets. Depending on the purpose of your worksheet, you will need to decide whether to insert a static or dynamic date and time. Static dates and times will not change as you work with your worksheet, while dynamic dates and times will change as time progresses and modifications are made to your worksheet.

• Inserting Dynamic Dates and Times
• Inserting Static Dates and Times

Inserting Dynamic Dates and Times

Dynamic dates and times are updated every time Excel recalculates, by default, every time [Enter]/[return] is pressed. This is useful if you would like the current date and/or time to be displayed every time the worksheet is viewed or printed.

Inserting a Dynamic Date Only

1. Select the cell in which you want the date to appear
2. In the cell, type =today()
3. Windows: Press [Enter]
   Macintosh: Press [return]
   The current date appears in the cell and will be updated every time Excel recalculates.
   NOTE: For information on changing the format of the date, refer to Formatting Numbers (Windows | Macintosh).

Inserting a Dynamic Date and Time

1. Select the cell in which you want the date and time to appear
2. In the cell, type =now()
3. Windows: Press [Enter]
   Macintosh: Press [return]
   The current date and time appear in the cell and will be updated every time Excel recalculates.
   NOTE: For information on changing the format of the date and time, refer to Formatting Numbers (Windows | Macintosh).

Inserting Static Dates and Times

Static dates and times are not updated. The date or time that is inserted into the cell will be the date or time that the command is entered into the cell.

Inserting a Static Date

1. Select the cell in which you want the date to appear
2. Press [Ctrl] + [;]
   The current date appears in the cell and will not be updated.
   NOTE: For information on changing the format of the date, refer to Formatting Numbers (Windows | Macintosh).

Inserting a Static Time

1. Select the cell in which you want the time to appear
2. Press [Ctrl] + [Shift] + [:]
   The current time appears in the cell and will not be updated.
   NOTE: For information on changing the format of the time, refer to Formatting Numbers (Windows | Macintosh).

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