Table of Contents
In Excel, you can use the DATE function to calculate a future date by specifying the year, month, and day values. For example, to calculate a date that is 30 days from today, you can use the formula =TODAY()+30. This will return the date 30 days from the current date. You can also use cell references to calculate a future date based on a specific date entered in a cell. For instance, if cell A1 contains a start date and cell B1 contains a number of days, you can use the formula =A1+B1 to calculate the future date. Other examples include calculating a future payment due date based on a billing date, or determining a project completion date based on a start date and estimated duration.
You can use the following formulas to calculate a future date in Excel:
Method 1: Calculate Future Date by Adding Days
=A2+50
This particular example will return the date that is 50 days after the date in cell A2.
Method 2: Calculate Future Date by Adding Business Days
=WORKDAY(A2, 50)
This particular example will return the date that is 50 business days after the date in cell A2.
Method 3: Calculate Future Date by Adding Months
=EDATE(A2, 3)
This particular example will return the date that is 3 months after the date in cell A2.
The following examples show how to use each method in practice with the following list of dates in Excel:
Example 1: Calculate Future Date by Adding Days
We can type the following formula into cell B2 to return the date that is 50 days after the date in cell A2:
=A2+50
We can then click and drag this formula down to each remaining cell in column B:
Example 2: Calculate Future Date by Adding Business Days
We can type the following formula into cell B2 to return the date that is 50 business days after the date in cell A2:
=WORKDAY(A2, 50)
We can then click and drag this formula down to each remaining cell in column B:
Each cell in column B displays the date that is 50 business days after the corresponding date in column A.
Note: You can find the complete documentation for the WORKDAY function in Excel .
Example 3: Calculate Future Date by Adding Months
We can type the following formula into cell B2 to return the date that is 3 months after the date in cell A2:
=EDATE(A2, 3)
We can then click and drag this formula down to each remaining cell in column B:
Each cell in column B displays the date that is 3 months after the corresponding date in column A.
Note: If the formula returns a numeric value, then you will need to click the Number Format dropdown menu on the Home tab along the ribbon and then click Short Date to format the number as a date.
Additional Resources
The following tutorials explain how to perform other common operations in Excel: