Microsoft Excel XP/X
Inserting Dates and Times
Excel offers a variety of different ways to include dates and times into your worksheets. There are two types of dates and times: static or dynamic. Static dates and times will not change as time progresses. Dynamic dates and times will change as time progresses. Both static and dynamic dates and times are useful.
This document contains information on the following:
Inserting Dynamic Dates and Times
Dynamic dates and times are updated every time Excel recalculates (which is, by default, every time [Enter] 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
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Select the cell in which you would like the date to appear
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In the cell, type =today()
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Windows: Press [Enter]
Macintosh: Press [return]
The current date appears in the cell and will be updated every time Excel recalculates.
For information on changing the format of the date, refer to Formatting Your Worksheets.
Inserting a Dynamic Date and Time
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Select the cell in which you would like the date and time to appear
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In the cell, type =now()
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Windows: Press [Enter]
Macintosh: Press [return]
The current date and time appears in the cell and will be updated every time Excel recalculates.
For information on changing the format of the date and time, refer to Formatting Your Worksheets.
Inserting Static Dates and Times
Static dates and times are not updated. The date or time that is inserted into the cell is the date or time immediately after the command is entered into the cell. This could be used to enter the date or time in which the worksheet was created.
Inserting a Static Date
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Select the cell in which you would like the date to appear
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Windows: Press [Ctrl] + [:;]
Macintosh: Press [control] + [:;]
The current date appears in the cell and will not be updated.
For information on changing the format of the date, refer to Formatting Your Worksheets.
Inserting a Static Time
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Select the cell in which you would like the time to appear
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Windows: Press [Ctrl] + [Shift] + [:;]
Macintosh: Press [control] + [shift] + [:;]
The current time appears in the cell and will not be updated.
For information on changing the format of the time, refer to Formatting Your Worksheets.
