Software & Apps MS Office 66 66 people found this article helpful Use Shortcut Keys to Add the Current Date/Time in Excel No recalculations needed! by Ted French Writer Former Lifewire writer Ted French is a Microsoft Certified Professional who teaches and writes about spreadsheets and spreadsheet programs. our editorial process Ted French Updated on November 11, 2019 reviewed by Ryan Perian Lifewire Tech Review Board Member Ryan Perian is a certified IT specialist who holds numerous IT certifications and has 12+ years' experience working in the IT industry support and management positions. our review board Article reviewed on Jun 11, 2020 Ryan Perian The Ultimate Guide to Keyboard Shortcuts The Ultimate Guide to Keyboard Shortcuts Introduction Windows Timesavers The Best Windows 10 Keyboard Shortcuts Essential Keyboard Shortcuts for Better Productivity How to Use the Shortcut Alt + Underline Shortcut to Create New Folders Essential Shortcuts for iTunes Mac, iOS & iPad Quick Tricks The Best Mac Shortcuts Keyboard Shortcuts for Finder Mac Startup Keyboard Shortcuts 18 Shortcuts for Apple's iOS Shortcuts App iPad Keyboard Tips and Smart Keyboard Shortcuts Android & iPhone Shortcuts The Best Android Shortcuts You Should Be Using Create and Use iPhone X Shortcuts Email Shortcuts The 30 Best Gmail Keyboard Shortcuts for 2020 How to Use Yahoo Mail Keyboard Shortcuts The Complete Apple Mail Shortcut List Shortcuts in iOS Mail Delete Shortcut Keys for Popular Email Programs How to Use Outlook.com Keyboard Shortcuts Create Text Snippets With Shortcuts in Mac OS X Mail Online & Browser Shortcuts Top 36 Shortcuts for Edge and IE 11 Keyboard Shortcuts: Google Chrome for Windows Create Web Page Shortcuts in Chrome for Windows Control Safari Windows With Keyboard Shortcuts Shortcuts for Safari Toolbars Shortcuts for Safari on OS X & Sierra Excel Shortcuts The 23 Best Excel Shortcuts Shortcut Excel's Fill Down Command Shortcut the Current Date/Time Formatting Numbers Adding Worksheets Shortcut to Saving Your Work Creating a Chart MAX Function Shortcut More Office Shortcuts Top 10 Microsoft Word Shortcuts The 5 Best Hidden Word Shortcuts Add Shortcut Keys to AutoText Entries Uppercase Shortcut Key How to Reset Keyboard Shortcuts in Word Shortcut to Speed Up PowerPoint Presentations Other Useful Shortcuts The Best Google Docs Shortcuts 18 Shortcuts for Linux Mint 18 Cinnamon Changing Linux Mint Cinnamon Shortcuts Fedora GNOME Keyboard Shortcuts Maya Keyboard Shortcuts Create or Reassign Keyboard Shortcuts in MS Office Useful Keyboard Shortcuts for Photoshop CC Time-Saving Fill Tool Shortcuts in Photoshop The 5 Most Useful GIMP Keyboard Shortcuts How to Use the GIMP Keyboard Shortcut Editor Shortcuts to Type a Tilde Mark Tweet Share Email You can quickly add the current date to Excel using shortcut keys on the keyboard. In addition to being fast, when the date is added using this method, it does not change every time the worksheet is opened as it does with some of Excel's date functions. Lifewire / Adrian Mangel The information in this article applies to Excel versions 2019, 2016, 2013, 2010, 2007, and Excel for Mac. The shortcuts may vary between Excel for Windows and Excel for Mac. Adding the Current Date in Excel Using Shortcut Keys You can quickly add the current date to any cell in an Excel worksheet using a keyboard shortcut. The key combination for adding the date in Excel is: Ctrl + ; (semi-colon key) To add the current date to a worksheet using just the keyboard: Select the cell where you want the date to appear.Press and hold the Ctrl key on the keyboard.Press and release the semi-colon key ( ; ) on the keyboard without releasing the Ctrl key.Release the Ctrl key. The current date appears in the worksheet in the selected cell. The default format for the date entered is the short date format as shown in the image above. Use another keyboard shortcut to change the format to the day-month-year format. Update the Date To have the date update every time the worksheet is opened, use the TODAY function. Formatting Dates in Excel With Shortcut Keys This Excel tip shows you how to quickly format dates using the day-month-year format (such as 01-Jan-14) in an Excel worksheet using shortcut keys on the keyboard. The key combination for adding the date is: Ctrl + Shift + # (hash tag or number sign key) To format a date using shortcut keys: Add the date to a cell in a worksheet.If necessary, click on the cell to make it the active cell.Press and hold both the Ctrl and Shift keys on the keyboard.Press and release the hashtag key ( # ) on the keyboard without releasing the Ctrl and Shift keys.Release the Ctrl and Shift keys. The date is formatted in the day-month-year format as shown in the image above. Add the Current Time Using Shortcut Keys Although not as commonly used as dates in spreadsheets, adding the current time with a keyboard shortcut can be used, among other things, as a timestamp. The time does not change once entered. The key combination for adding the time in Excel 2019, 2016, 2013, 2010, and 2007 is: Ctrl + Shift + : (colon key) To add the current time to a worksheet using just the keyboard: Select the cell where you want the time to appear.Press and hold both the Ctrl and the Shift keys on the keyboard.Press and release the colon key ( : ) on the keyboard without releasing the Ctrl and Shift keys.Release the Ctrl and Shift keys. The current time is added to the worksheet. The key combination for adding the date in Excel 2016 for Mac and Excel for Mac 2011 is: ⌘ (command) + ; (semi-colon) To add the current time to a worksheet using just the keyboard: Select the cell where you want the time to appear.Press and hold the Command key on the keyboard.Press and release the semi-colon key ( ; ) on the keyboard without releasing Command key.Release the Command key. The current time is added to the worksheet. Update the Time If you want the time updated every time the worksheet is opened, use the NOW function. Formatting Times in Excel With Shortcut Keys This Excel tip shows you how to quickly format times in an Excel worksheet using shortcut keys on the keyboard. By default, times in Excel are formatted with the hour: minute and AM/PM format (such as 10:33 AM). The key combination for formatting times is: Ctrl + Shift + @ (at symbol) To format the time using shortcut keys: Manually add the time to a cell in a worksheet.If necessary, select the cell to make it the active cell.Press and hold the Ctrl and Shift keys on the keyboard.Press and release the at symbol key ( @ ) on the keyboard - located above the number 2 - without releasing the Ctrl and Shift keys.Release the Ctrl and Shift keys.The time will be formatted to show the current time in the hour: minute and AM/PM format as seen in the image above. Enter the Date and Time Into a Single Cell You can enter both the date and time in a cell using the keyboard shortcuts together.Press Ctrl+; (semi-colon)Press SpacePress Ctrl+Shift+; (semi-colon)The date and time will both appear in the selected cell. Custom Date and Time Formats Using Shortcut Keys If you would like to change the format of a date or time entered in an Excel cell, you can use a keyboard shortcut to open the formatting dialog box. The key combination for accessing the Format Cells dialog is Ctrl + 1 or ⌘ (command) + 1 Select the cell you want to format.Press and hold the Ctrl key (Windows) or the Command key (Mac).Press and release the 1 key on the keyboard without releasing the Ctrl or Command key.Release the Ctrl or Command key. The Format Cells dialog box opens.Make sure you have the Number tab selected.Choose the format you want to use from the Date or Time category and select OK. Was this page helpful? Thanks for letting us know! Get the Latest Tech News Delivered Every Day Email Address Sign up There was an error. Please try again. You're in! Thanks for signing up. There was an error. Please try again. Thank you for signing up. Tell us why! Other Not enough details Hard to understand Submit