How can I use a formula to calculate the due date in Excel?

Using a formula in Excel, you can easily calculate the due date for any given task or project. By inputting the start date and the desired number of days or weeks until the due date, the formula will automatically calculate the correct date. This allows for efficient and accurate planning and organization of deadlines. Additionally, the formula can be customized to account for weekends or holidays, ensuring the most accurate due date calculation. With this feature, Excel becomes a valuable tool for managing and meeting deadlines in any professional or personal setting.

Excel: Use a Formula to Calculate Due Date


Often in Excel you may want to calculate one of the following values:

  • The due date for a task by adding a certain number of days to a start date.
  • The number of days until a due date based on a start date and a due date.

Fortunately we can use simple formulas in Excel to calculate both of these values and the following examples show how to do so.

Example 1: Calculate Due Date in Excel

Suppose we have the following dataset in Excel that shows the start date of various projects and the number of days until the project is due:

To calculate the due date for each project, we can type the following formula into cell D2:

=B2+C2

We can then click and drag this formula down to each remaining cell in column D:

Excel due date formula

Column D now shows the due date for each project by adding the number of days in column C to the start date in column B.

For example:

  • 1/1/2023 + 100 days = 4/11/2023
  • 1/15/2023 + 30 days = 2/14/2023
  • 4/12/2023 + 30 days = 5/12/2023

And so on.

Example 2: Calculate Number of Days Until Due Date in Excel

Suppose we have the following dataset in Excel that shows the start date and due date of various projects:

=C2-B2

We can then click and drag this formula down to each remaining cell in column D:

Column D now shows the number of days until each project is due by subtracting the start date from the due date.

For example:

  • 1/15/2023 – 1/1/2023 = 14 days
  • 2/1/2023 – 1/15/2023 = 17 days
  • 4/15/2023 – 4/12/2023 = 3 days

And so on.

Note that if the number of days until the due date is a negative value (like in cell D8) then this indicates that the project is overdue.

Additional Resources

The following tutorials explain how to perform other common operations in Excel:

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