Comments on: How to conditionally format dates and time in Excel with formulas and inbuilt rules

See how to apply Excel conditional formatting to dates. Learn how to use formulas to highlight weekends and holidays, format cells when a value is changed to a date, shade upcoming dates and delays, conditionally format dates based on the current date, and more. Continue reading →

Comments page 4. Total comments: 1245

  1. Hi,

    I have a calendar in excel, I need to highlight two cells ( cell 1 = today's date and cell 2 = the adjacent cell below cell 1) been looking how to do this, but cant find an answer. Hope you can help me

    Highlighting today's date is quite easy, what I find difficult is highlighting the cell 2

    Thank you in advance

      1. Thank you very much for your help

  2. Hi

    I'm trying to change the cell colour to reflect length of service e.g under 2 years (red), over 2 years (orange) and over 5 years (green).

    I am using the following formula to show the service length - =DATEDIF(E2,G2,"y")&" Years, "&DATEDIF(E2,G2,"ym")&" Months" - which shows as 4 years, 2 months. Is it possible to do cell colouring when it has both words and numbers?

    Thanks

  3. Hi, i am creating a roster, what conditional formatting formula could i use to identify where someone has worked more than 11 shifts in a fortnight and identify the last night shift worked. i have plotted the roster using shift codes. Thanks

  4. Hi, I'm working on a project and would like any task end dates (in column L) to highlight red once they're overdue but only if the task status (in column I) does not include the text "Completed". Could you help please?

    1. Hi! If I understand your task correctly, the following formula should work for you:

      =(ISNUMBER(SEARCH("Completed",I1)))*(L1How to find substring in Excel

  5. I need to highlight a cell if it is 2+ days past another certain cell. I have a list of dates in different columns and if the date in one column is 2 or greater than the cell to the left of it I want it to highlight. Is this possible?

  6. Hey

    I want to highlight "tomorrow" in excel. But: when tomorrow is a saturday or a sunday, i want it to highlight the first monday instead
    (= i always want to highlight the next working day)

    If today is friday 11/08/2023, then i want monday 14/08/2023 to be highlighted
    if today is monday 14/08/2023, then i want tuesday 15/08/2023 to be highlighted

    can you help me out please?

  7. Hi, i am trying to colour a cell when a date & time appear dd/mm/yyyy hh/mm is there a formular for this

  8. What formula would I use if I want to highlight dates from today that are more than 90 days in the future as green, from today to 90 days in the future as yellow, and dates in the past from today as red?

  9. I'm trying to find a formula where the cell turns in different colors:
    Each cell has a date (example: 28/04/2016 - typed in cell D3), if 4 years and 6 months passed, it needs to turn orange. But is 5 years passed it needs to turn red.

    Can someone help me with the right formula?

      1. If i try this, i always get this:
        "There's a problem with this formula. Not trying to type a formula? When the first character is an equal ('=') or minus ('-') sign, Excel thinks it's a formula:
        * you type: = 1+1, cell shows: 2
        To get around this, type an apostrophe (') first:
        * you type: '=1+, cell shows: =1+1

  10. Hello!

    I am trying to have a cell turn red if the date is less than or equal to todays date, but I don't know the right formula.
    I tried using the conditional formatting rule: Cell Value <= TODAY()
    But, when I delete a date from that cell, it still shows a red fill color and I don't know how to remove it. Is there any way to remove the color if the cell is blank or do I need a different formula?

    Thank you so much for your time!

  11. Hi. I have a spreadsheet which i would like to format to highlight when a specific date date is reached into the future. So for example, i want it to automatically highlight when 20 March is reached every year. How do i do that?

  12. Hello, I have a spreadsheet that A treatment plan date is entered in Column E. Which auto fills the date of 4 months ahead into column N and then 6 months ahead into column O. Columns N and O have autofilled date from the EDATE formula based on the treatment plan date in column A, I need to highlight cells in columns N and O yellow that are due within 2 weeks of the date autofilled and highlight cells red that are past due to the date autofilled. I have reviewed the highlight upcoming dates and delays and the cells aren't becoming formatted. Please help.

    1. Hi! Unfortunately, I don't understand what date you want to compare the dates in columns N and O to. If the examples in the article above didn't help you, please explain in more detail. What dates and what formulas have you tried to use?

      1. So sorry. I have a spreadsheet that shows an initial date that can happen at any time that is filled in when an assignment is completed. This is in column E. This spreadsheet continues on to reflect the due dates of 4 months after that date and 6 months after that date to show the quarterly and semi-annual due date for that assignment. In columns N and O respectively. I am struggling To get conditional formatting to show yellow two weeks before the due date and turn red when the item is past due. I have been able to get the cells in columns N and O to turn red if they are past due by using =$N3=1,$N3-TODAY()<15)" to have the cells turn yellow 15 days before the due date and that is not turning cells due within 14 days yellow. Also is there a way to set the formatting to clear when the date is met successfully?

          1. When I use =$N3-TODAY()<15 formula it is highlighting nearly all dates. In some instances, cells that have the same dates one is highlighted while the other isn't. Could this be because the date is an EMONTH formula and not put in directly?

              1. Is that the reason why I can't get the cells to highlight properly because there is an edate in the cell?

        2. The columns that reflect the 4month and 6months date have an EDATE formula in to autofill the 4 month and 6 month value.

  13. I need to highlight cells based on its value (date), to identify whether thats expired or not ;

    where expiry criteria defined in a single master cell of that column (i.e. 2 years, 1 year etc)

    For example
    H column is representing a course

    H100 = "1-JAN-2022"
    Expiry of H column items (course validity) is in cell H3 = "2 Years"

    There will be many rows of H, as well as other columns to mark validity in the same format

    Can anyone guide?

  14. Hi

    Im looking for a function to do the next.
    every 15th of the month I want a specific cell to decrease by 1 permanently.
    all the things I tried turned back to the origianl once the date turned to the 16th.

    please help

    tnx :)

  15. I am looking to make a worksheet that will highlight a date if it is earlier than a specific date of the month. For instance, we have a check to do every month from the 16th of every month. I would like to be able for a cell to turn red if the date in it is earlier than the 16th of that month

    1. Hi! Create the target dates with the DATE function. Get the current month and year using the MONTH and YEAR functions.
      If I understand your task correctly, try the following formula:

      =AND(D1=DATE(YEAR(D1),MONTH(D1),1))

  16. Hi, Alexander, Who how link the second excel data to the first excel, when I update the new date? immediately, just change only a week.

  17. Great information - but stops short of helping the beginner with coloring cells with date/time and leaving cells with text (PENDING) white. Would be really helpful if you explored the basic techniques for beginner to be able to master conditional formatting a cell to a color if there is a date time (period) vs. having the word PENDING. This complex issue is not covered, and when records are processed based on random date/times throughout the day you need to be able to highlight them. Hopefully, someone will report how to do that so I can apply it at my job. There is never training provided and receptionists are being tasked with more complex tasks daily. Would love support on this stuff. Thanks,

    1. Hi! You can use the CELL function to determine if a cell has a date in it. If I understand your task correctly, try the following formula:

      =LEFT(CELL("format",A1),1)="D"

  18. Hello,

    Thank you for this article - excellent information. I work in a home health agency. We need to keep track of patient in-home assessments which must be conducted every 180 days (6 months) per the dept. of health. We want to use Excel to alert us about where we are during those 180 days for all patients. For example, from the initial assessment (day 1) to day 90, the patient name should be GREEN. From day 91 to day 120, the patient name should be YELLOW. From day 121 to day 150, the patient name should be 40% ORANGE. From day 151 to day 179, the patient name should be 60% ORANGE. And, from day 180 and beyond, the patient name should be RED. Is there a way to use conditional formatting to accomplish this? Thank you!

    1. Hello! To create conditional formatting by dates, use the recommendations from the article above. Create a separate rule for each color.
      Pay attention to the following paragraph of the article above: How to highlight dates within a date range.

  19. Hi. I am nouveau to excel. I am working on tracker and following column are in the sheet (1) Timeline, i.e., no. of days in which we get approval, (2) Initial submission date, (3) Due date [=(1) + (2)] (4) Query received (5) Query response (6) Approval. I want formula for following

    (A) The value should reflect 0 (Zero) in due date cell when due date values come 00/01/1900 (as there is no submission) and no highlight
    (B) Highlight the due date cell RED when due date exceed the timeline [=Due date<TODAY()] and GREEN When the due date is within timeline
    (C) Highlight the due date cell YELLOW when there is date value in query received column
    (D) Highlight the due date cell when there is date value in Query response column and follow condition as per B above.
    (C) No highlight when there is date value in approval column.

  20. Hey everyone, if I have multiple sheets with contract names in column A and expiration dates of certain criteria in columns D and G, is there a way to fun a formula where when one of the limits is within 6 months or 3 months, that it is highlighted? Or is there an option where if I create a summary page, that when a date is within 6 months, on the summary page, it will display contract names and expiration date?

    1. Hi! You can read the detailed instructions in the article above on how to highlight the dates you want. You can create a pivot table and select the dates you want in it using these instructions. You can also use the FILTER function to get a list of data in which a date matches a criterion.

  21. Probably a long shot but I'll ask! I'm using a =NOW() function to track the time elapsed, basically like a stop watch/stop the clock tracked in a spreadsheet of values. Currently formatted with =TEXT(CurrentTime-C10,"hh:mm:ss"). Two part question: The biggest question though is, is there a way to highlight the cell once 10 minutes, 20 minutes, or 30 minutes have elapsed without using a macro? I've tried using the time formatting and the lowest you can get is by day, not by minutes.

    part two: This sheet is used by both US/UK employees, so one side sees it displayed in each time zone, but when dates are entered, it only tracks in the UK time frame. (Example: Time input in UK BST as: 10:13, elapsed time should be 11:08 (which is what UK employees see), but US employees see 19:11:08, based on the time zone and the =NOW. Is there anyway to format that better?

    1. Hello! If you write the time as an unchangeable timestamp, you can apply conditional formatting to these cells using a formula:

      =AND(C1<>"",(NOW()-INT(NOW())-C1)>TIME(0,30,0))

      I recommend these guides on how to write the time in a cell: How to insert current time in Excel: timestamp shortcut, formula, VBA and How to insert today date & current time as unchangeable time stamp.
      If I understand the second question correctly, you may find this tutorial helpful: How to create a custom Excel date format for another locale.
      I hope it’ll be helpful.

      1. Thank you so much for your quick response, I will give both these guides a look and try your formula!

  22. I have a worksheet that tracks client due dates in multiple columns, with some due in seven days, some in 14, some in 30, and some in 90 (all the same range inside the column). I plan to enter the date that the variable is completed in the cell, and want the cell to highlight if it is so many days past the cell value. How do I do that?

    1. Hi! Pay attention to the "Example 3. Highlight upcoming dates and delays" in the article above. It covers your case completely.

  23. I am tracking attendance and I want to show a two year rolling date range. Meaning after two years the absence is no longer in their file. Once the absence is "out of range" I want it to no longer be on the spreadsheet. Additionally I want the recent 12 months one color and the subsequent 12 months a different. How do I format that?

    1. Hi! To highlight dates greater than 12 months from the current date, you can use the conditional formatting formula with the DATEDIF function
      For example,

      =DATEDIF(A1,TODAY(),"m")>12

      You cannot use Excel formulas to delete any data from the worksheet. You can do it manually or with a VBA macro. You can use an Excel filter to hide unnecessary data.

  24. Trying to format a spreadsheet - work in doctors surgery.
    Spreadsheet contains name, nhs no, date of death, date of birth, age and 6 other columns - I want to highlight a row based on the date of death being in the past month but whatever I use either highlights only the date of death cell or the whole spreadsheet.
    Help please

    1. Hi! Highlight rows starting from row 2 and below as needed. Create a conditional formatting rule for the selected rows using a formula:

      =MONTH(TODAY())-MONTH($C2)=1

      You can learn more about change the row color based on cell value in Excel in this article on our blog.

  25. I've tried several things above, but conditional formatting just isn't working like I want it to. I have a spreadsheet with Month Names across the top. I randomly put numbers (not dates) in the rows below. What I want to accomplish is highlighting the current month column all the way down. So since TODAY is in May, I want to highlight the May column in, say, green and leave all the rest of the columns white. Once it turns to June, I want June highlighted all the way down. Is there a way to do this with conditional formatting? I've tried using the something like =Text(Today(), "mmmm") = B$1 (and vice-versa =B$1 = Text(Today(), "mmmm"). No formatting happens. Any ideas for me??

    April May June July
    $28.89 $20.15

    $30.85 $30.85
    $29.60

  26. Hi Alexander, I am trying to do a conditional color formatting for Scheduled End Date vs Actual End Date so if the Actual End Date is after the Scheduled by so many days it will be a variant of red. If the Actual End Date = or G8,-DATEDIF(G8,E8,"d"),DATEDIF(E8,G8,"d")) E8 is Scheduled End Date and G8 is Actual End Date.

    Thank you so much.

    1. Hi! If I understand your task correctly, pay attention to the following paragraph of the article above: How to highlight dates within a date range.
      For example, =(G8-E8)>30

  27. Hi. Thank you for your assistance.
    =AND(TODAY()-$Z2>=305, TODAY()-$Z2<=365) returns an error. Please assist.

  28. Dear Sir,
    I have 2 issues.
    1. Have XLs in which 3 colums idicate date of completion, how I can highlight earloest date in each raw?
    2. In next column next action date written.
    I want to compare it with above earliest date and if it is late , how can I highlight that cells?

  29. Hi Alex,

    It would so helpful if you could help me in sorting out the steps

    A2= "=Today()" for ex. we can take it has 4/29/2023
    B2(Start date) = 4/25/2023
    C2(End Date) = 4/29/2023

    D2 = I need to validate the formula which is
    IF(A2= B2, it should "Delivering",
    IF(A2> C2,"Completed")))),

    Here am not getting the status as completed when date(C2) is actually completed

  30. You all are so helpful! I am trying to create a spreadsheet to show past dates (completed) in green and today and future dates (not completed) in yellow. I currently have the following formatting: cell contains a blank value -no fill, =$G2>TODAY() -yellow fill, =$G2<TODAY() -green fill. The rules are in this order.

    The blanks are correct, however anything I type a date in, regardless past or future, it fills in green. Any suggestions?

    1. Hi! Unfortunately, I cannot check how you created the conditional formatting in your workbook. Note that the conditional formatting formula must match the conditional formatting range. In your case, the conditional formatting range should start on row 2. All the necessary information is in the article above.

  31. I would like to create a yearly calendar (2023) month by month. I have completed this on my own manually, however, it took a long time. I am wondering if you have a template?

  32. Hi,

    I have a spreadsheet which records 2 different types of inspection date. Inspection 1 and Inspection 2, i would like a formula to automatically create the next inspection date which will be in 3 years time, on a week day, based on whichever inspection date was the latest,

    Can this be done?

    Thanks,

  33. I am hoping you can help with a formula.

    In column A, I have a date in which an account entered a work queue. In column L I have different statuses in a list. I want the status to automatically change to "Proceed with Write-off - Status Unchanged" if the account has remained unworked for 14 days.

    Also, the statuses are pulling from another spreadsheet in this workbook "Column Options" and are located in Q2-Q7.

  34. Hi there,

    Hope you can help.

    I have a dynamic calendar excel template with drop down list of months. Need to highlight certain days of a particular months, but it keeps highlighting those same days across all months. How do I break the link so that it highlights what I choose in a month, not same day in every month?

    Hope I am making sense.

    Thanks,

  35. I have a spread sheet that already has the autodate generated in cells A2 and A27. Now I'd like to have the deposit numbers in cell B1 and B26 increase by 2 digits automatically when the document opens just like the autdate. For example, let's say my deposit numbers for today April 13, 2023 are K105 (B1) and K108 (B26). I'd like to open the spreadsheet tomorrow, have the current date along with cells B1 and B26 showing K107 and K110, the day's deposit numbers.

    Kindest Regards

    1. Hi!
      If I got you right, the formula below will help you with your task:

      ="K"&(105+(TODAY()-DATE(2023,4,13))*2)

  36. Hi.

    Please could you help with the following conditional formatting formula?

    I have 2 columns.

    Column D is headed 'Response Required By'. This column contains a date that I need a response from a supplier by.
    Column E is headed ' Response Received'. This column remains blank until the supplier's response is received and the date is entered manually.

    The conditional formatting I am trying to apply is as follows:

    If the supplier has not responded within 5 days of the 'Response Required By' date (column D), then I want to highlight the blank cell in column E as AMBER
    If the supplier has not responded within 1 day of the 'Response Required By' date (column D), then I want to highlight the blank cell in column E as RED
    When the supplier has responded and their response date is entered manually into column E, I want the cell in Column E to be highlighted in GREEN

    Many thanks

    1. Have you tried the ways described in this blog post? If they weren't effective, please provide me with more details about your task.

  37. So I work at a prison and have a worksheet that tracks dates for inmate reviews based on the date they entered our unit. They need to be reviewed once every 7 days for the first 2 months, then once per month after that (this part I have covered). We have our meetings to review on Tuesdays and Fridays. So the review periods go from Friday-Monday and from Tuesday-Thursday. So for this week the dates for review periods would be 04/07/23-04/10/23 and 04/11/23-04/13/23. Do you know how to have dates that fall into these review periods automatically highlighted as we are in them and when they will be the next review period. Thanks! :)

    1. Hi!
      I'm not quite sure what dates you want to be highlighted. The dates you specified are the entire week of 04/07/23 to 04/13/23. Please describe your problem in more detail.

      1. OK. The dates I provided are just an example using the current week. I need dates that fall on Fridays-Mondays and Tuesdays-Thursdays separately highlighted, but also only highlighted when we are within that timeframe and when they will be the next period. So for example, today is Wednesday the 12th, so we would currently be in the Tuesday-Thursday period. So I would want any dates appearing in that period to be highlighted (in say green). And the next period would be Friday-Monday starting on the 14th. I would want dates that fall into that next period highlighted differently (say orange) to let me easily see that they are upcoming. Once we reach Friday, then the Friday-Monday period would then be green and the upcoming Tuesday-Thursday period would be orange. And so on.

        1. Hi!
          A conditional formatting formula to highlight the days Tuesday through Thursday:

          =AND(WEEKDAY(A1,12)<4,ABS(TODAY()-A1)<3)

          You can learn more about WEEKDAY function in Excel in this article on our blog.

  38. Hello,

    I am trying to format a cell once a date has expired. Specifically, on 10/1/2023 I need every date that was entered in a column, that has passed to change format. However, I am trying to avoid just writing a new conditional format rule on 10/1/2023. Instead I would prefer the formatting indicate what has passed. Also I would like to keep it moving forward for the end of each fiscal year.

    1. Hi!
      You can see all the possible ways for conditional date formatting above. You can use a reference to the cell with the desired date in the formula so that you don't have to change the formula manually.

  39. Hi,
    I am trying to set up a sheet with conditional formatting. Ex. B4 has a target date with B3 being -7 days and B5 being +7 days. I want B6 to turn green if it is between those two dates. I know how to do this for one cell, but I need to do it for C-P as well. Is there a way to do this?

  40. Hi,
    I hope you can assist. I am trying to create a rule that will highlight and strike through the cells value if another cells date displays a date of the 22nd day or before.
    For example
    if C1 is filled with 9/23/2023 the target cell will be unchanged
    if C1 is filled with 9/21/2023 the target cell will turn red with text strike through.

    The date in C1 will constantly be changing ranging from 1930's to current.

  41. Hi! Hoping you can help. I am trying to create a formula rule to highlight a cell range based on one cell but for multiple options.

    E.g. Cell C4 has a date of 21/3/2021, and D4 has a date of 19/02/1998; I am trying to create a rule to highlight date ranges in different colours. 5 years.

    Then I want to use that to highlight C4,5,6,7 etc., based on that range.

    I have tried using an if and statement and a datedif statement, but it doesn't seem to want to work. Is this at all possible?

    Thanks!

      1. Thanks! I have tried to make the next selection of between 1 & 2 years, and 2 and 5 years, The formula works (no error) but it is not highlighting...

        =AND((DATEDIF($G$4,$B$1,"Y")>1),(DATEDIF($G$4,$B$1,"Y")<2))

        Have I used the right formula?

        Thanks again

        2. SORTED!

          =AND((DATEDIF($G$4,$B$1,"M")>24),(DATEDIF($G$4,$B$1,"M")<60))

          I changed it to months :)

          Thanks!

    2. Sorry, date ranges would be Under 1 year, 1-2 years, 2-5 years and over 5 years.

  42. Hello,

    I have a set of dates for various personnel training attended, that expire within 1 year, 2 years, 3 years and so on. I would like to use conditional formatting to turn the cells yellow when they are 90 days out from expiry and red when the dates have expired. I can't seem to find the right combinations of rules to make this work, as most are based on the current date in excel rather than the given date in the cell. Please help!

    Thank you.

    1. Hi! Replace the TODAY() function in the conditional formatting date formulas you see above in the article with a cell reference. Instead of =TODAY()-$A2>30 write =$A1-$A2>30

  43. Hi,
    I’m trying to get the following formulas to work on the same table but they won’t work together, it’s like they cancel each other out
    =AND($D2-TODAY()>=0,$D2-TODAY()=0,TODAY()-$D2<=7)
    I also want to be able to get it to work for multiple end dates but it won’t allow the formula to work on more than one row.
    Please help

    1. Hi! The second condition repeats the first. The third condition contradicts the second. The formula will always return FALSE.

      1. Ok so how do I get it to work to show both when it’s exceeded deadline and when it’s close to deadline?
        And is it possible to have it work for multiple deadline dates

        1. You want me to use your wrong formula to guess what you want to do. Pay attention to the following paragraph of the article above: How to highlight dates within a date range.

  44. Now can I formulate a date that actually says the month. "January 2" instead of 1/2 or 2 Jan or the others?

  45. Hi, I'm trying to set up an employee directory that has the weekdays and times they're available. I currently have two cells that have the formula =NOW() (with one having the custom format to display "Fri" and the other to display hh:mm:ss am/pm). I would like to change the cells change colour to red if the day is Friday and they are not working (ie if they only work Mon-Thu etc). How would I go about conditionally formatting this?

  46. Hello -

    I'm trying to set up an inspection record template with separate Receipt Date and Expiration Date cells, where the Expiration Date cell will be automatically highlighted if the value entered there is <12 months from the Receipt Date. The Receipt Date will not always be the same date that the record is getting filled out, which is where I'm running into trouble. Please help?

    1. Hi I have the following:
      Sheet 1
      Column A: list of employee names
      Column B: employee title
      Column C: hire date
      Column D: # of years with company

      I am trying to sort this list on a new sheet so that all employees and their info from each column on sheet 1 is populated according to their anniversary date for 2023, but also separated by month. So if the employee anniversary date is in January, the employee and their info would be pulled from sheet 1 and listed under January 2023...and do this for each month. Is there a way to do this?

  47. What formula can I use if I want a row to fill with color after the date is typed into a cell? Example: 3/15/2023 is typed into E3, how can I have A3:E3 turn green?

  48. Hello,

    I am trying to make a formula where I want the cell to be highlighted when it says "In Progress" and the date is past 14 days.
    Column C is the date posted, and Column E is the status column (Ready, In Progress, ect.)

    This is the formula I thought would work, but am getting an error message:
    =AND(TODAY()-C3>=14, E3 = “In Progress”)

    The error I'm getting says "you may not use reference operators (such as unions, intersections, and ranges), array constants, or the LAMBDA function for conditional formatting criteria."

    1. Hi!
      I assume you used the wrong quotes for the text string.
      Use the formula:

      =AND(TODAY()-C3>=14, E3 = "In Progress")

  49. I have a spreadsheet that I need help with.
    I need to highlight the cell if a date entered is within the current quarter.

    Qtr1 Oct-Dec
    Qtr2 Jan-Mar
    Qtr3 Apr-Jun
    Qtr4 Jul-Sep

    If not, then highlighted red. If so, then highlighted green.

  50. I'd like to format cells to highlight based on a date range not related to today's current date (e.g., highlight all cells with dates from June 2022-December 2022 with one color, highlight January 2023-June 2023 with a different color, etc.). The tricky part is the dates I want referenced are on sheet 2 and the cells I want formatted are on sheet 1. Is this something that is possible?

Post a comment



Thank you for your comment!
When posting a question, please be very clear and concise. This will help us provide a quick and relevant solution to
your query. We cannot guarantee that we will answer every question, but we'll do our best :)