Google Sheets is the name of the Google application that allows you to create calculation tables to add data that will be used for accounting. This Google app contains a lot of flashy features, to tell you the truth, but one of the flashiest is the ‘Date Calculation’ feature.
This ‘Calculation of dates’ function is very useful when you want to know how many days there are between certain exact dates and which date comes before another. Later, we will show what the formulas are that can be used to calculate dates in Google Sheets and how to see if a Google Sheets date was marked correctly. As an extra, it will also explain why dates cannot sometimes be calculated.
What are the formulas that help you calculate days between dates in Google Sheets?
There is no specific function that Google Sheets has for calculate dates in calculation tables. However, that’s not to say that there isn’t a way to calculate dates within Google Sheets spreadsheets. There are at least two ways to calculate dates in Google Sheets.
These two ways of calculating dates with Google Sheets are used with different formulas. So that you have variety when calculating your dates within Google Sheets, we are going to show you two processes to calculate dates. Different formulas will be used in these two processes.
With the formula TODAY() – C2 >= 14 * 365
The first formula for calculate days between two dates is this. Now that you have seen what the formula is, you should see how such a formula is applied:
- Start your device
- Open Google Sheets on your device
- Create a new calculation table or if not take an existing one
- Go to the formula bar
- Put this ‘(TODAY() – C2) >= (14 * 365)’
- In the parentheses that are next to where it says ‘TODAY’ put the date you want to calculate the days for and that’s it
You need to know that this formula is used to calculate the number of days from today until the date you put in the parentheses. In case you want to place calculate two exact dates between each other, you will have to use a formula from another class because the one you used before won’t work for you.
In case you didn’t know, with Google Sheets there is a way to put today’s date in the spreadsheet. This is very useful if you want calculate days with a date and when you want to have a reference point of the day you made the document.
In addition to putting today’s date in your calculation tables, you can also restore previous versions of a Google Sheets table. This is somewhat useful when you accidentally deleted data of your document or else when you want to retrieve the previous sample of that document.
Using the formula (TODAY() – C2) >= (14 * 365)
The second formula you can use to calculate dates in google sheets is this. See how dates are calculated with this formula:
- Start your device
- Go to Google Sheets
- Make a document or open one that has content
- Then go to the formula bar
- Put this ‘(TODAY() – C2) >= (14 * 365)’
- Inside the parentheses that are next to ‘TODAY’ you are going to put the date you want to calculate in days and that’s it
This formula is a bit different than the one shown in the previous process, but it turns out to be almost the same. Note that if you want open a spreadsheet of Microsoft office within Sheets, you must transform it first. When you have transformed the Excel document, you will be able to start using it in Google Sheets.
It is good to remind you that prevent data loss It would be good if you set the automatic saving of the documents and also save a copy on your device.
How to know if your Google Sheets formula is correct?
If you want to know if your formula has been correct, all you have to do is use a calculation tool. There is a calculation tool that allows you to calculate the dates exactly. Such a tool is online and is called ‘Calcuworld’. You can use that tool to see if your formula has been correct:
- turn on your device
- Open the web browser
- Then, access the CalcuWorld website
- Scroll down a bit to get past the ad
- To finish, put the initial date, the second date and hit calculate
Pressing the ‘Calculate’ button will give you the result of your calculation. In ‘Elapsed Time’ you will be given the time that has elapsed and in ‘Elapsed days’ you will be given the total of the days that have passed. If the number of days indicated by the page is the same as that given by Google Sheets, it means that the formula has been correct.
Why can’t you correctly calculate days between dates in Google Sheets?
Sometimes the calculation between two dates does not run in Google Sheets, this can happen due to two things. These two things may be you have misplaced the formula or that the date you want to calculate is invalid. If you still have problems calculating your date, you can use another formula or else use the online tool that we mentioned before.