Excel Functions to Count the Number of Days Between Two Dates

Learn more about these important planning tools

By
Ted French
Ted French
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Former Lifewire writer Ted French is a Microsoft Certified Professional who teaches and writes about spreadsheets and spreadsheet programs.
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Updated on March 5, 2020

Microsoft Excel features many functions to help users count the number of business days between two dates or find the start and end dates of a project given a set number of business days. These functions are handy for planning and when writing proposals to determine the timeframe of a project.

Here's a quick look at these critical Excel date functions along with where to find more in-depth information.

These functions are available in Excel versions 2007 and later, unless specified, as well as Excel for Microsoft 365, Excel for Microsoft 365 for Mac, Excel 2016 for Mac, and Excel for Mac 2011.

Excel NETWORKDAYS Function

Use the NETWORKDAYS function to calculate the number of business days between the start date and end date of a project. It excludes weekends and holidays for additional accuracy.

A potential use for NETWORKDAYS is to calculate employee benefits that accumulate based on the number of days worked during a specific timeframe.

Excel NETWORKDAYS.INTL Function

The NETWORKDAYS.INTL function is similar to the NETWORKDAYS function, except that you use the NETWORKDAYS.INTL function for workplaces where the weekend days don't necessarily fall on Saturdays and Sundays. Single-day weekends are accommodated, as well. This function first became available in Excel 2010.

Excel DATEDIF Function

The DATEDIF function calculates the number of days, months, or years between two dates. It returns the difference between two date values, based on the interval specified. 

Excel WORKDAY Function

Use the WORKDAY function to calculate the end date or start date of a project for a given number of business days. WORKDAY can exclude weekends or holidays when you calculate invoice due dates, expected delivery times, or the number of days of work performed.

Excel WORKDAY.INTL Function

Similar to Excel's WORKDAY function above, use the WORKDAY.INTL function when an organization's weekend days don't fall on Saturdays and Sundays. Single-day weekends are accommodated, as well. This function first became available in Excel 2010.

Excel EDATE Function

Use the EDATE function to calculate a due date of a project or investment that falls on the same day of the month as the date it was issued.

Excel EOMONTH Function

Use the EOMONTH function, short for End of Month function, to calculate a due date of a project or investment that falls at the end of the month. EOMONTH can also be used to calculate maturity dates that fall on the last day of the month.

Excel DAYS360 Function

Use the Excel DAYS360 Function in accounting systems to calculate the number of days between two dates based on a 360-day year. Use this function to help compute payments if your accounting system is based on 12 30-day months.

Convert Dates With DATEVALUE

Screenshot of Excel's DATEVALUE function

Use the DATEVALUE function to convert a date that has been stored as text into a value that Excel recognizes. This might be done if data in a worksheet is going to be filtered or sorted by date values, or if the dates will be used in calculations, such as when using the NETWORKDAYS or WORKDAY functions.

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