Comments on: How to change Google Sheets date format and convert dates to numbers and text

In this guide, you'll find out how Google stores dates and how you can format them for your better convenience. Some date formats are offered to you by spreadsheets while others should be created from scratch. There are even a couple of handy functions for the task. I also describe a couple of ways to convert your dates to numbers and text if necessary. Continue reading →

Comments page 2. Total comments: 207

  1. Wednesday 21st Dec (11 AM-12 PM) Importing data from different sheets. Need this in only date format ex(09/01/2023)

  2. I receive a month on numbers as I group by it to get the total sales on each month.
    I would like to format it from the group by straight to my query, this is the far I could go but it isn't work. I'm in Brazil so that's why some character's may seem wrong.
    =QUERY(Vendas!A:P;"Select MONTH(A), sum(P), count(P) group by MONTH(A) label MONTH(A) 'Mês', sum(P) 'Faturamento', count(P) 'Limpezas no Mês' Format sum(P) 'R$ ##,##0.00', MONTH(A) '"&TEXTO(&"MONTH(A)"&;'MMMM')&"'")
    Hope I was understandable.

    1. Hello Rodrigo,

      If you still need assistance, please share a small sample spreadsheet with us (support@apps4gs.com) with 2 sheets: (1) a copy of your source data with your formula (2) the example of the result you expect to get. The result sheet is of great importance as it gives a better understanding than any text description.

      Note. We keep that Google account for file sharing only and don't monitor its Inbox. Please do not email there. Once you share the file, just confirm by replying to this comment.

      I'll look into it and try to help.

  3. Hello,

    I have a problem with creating a date.
    I use the following formula in the script editor:
    Utilities.formatDate(new Date(Year,Month,Day), FormTimeZone, 'dd.MM.yyyy')

    In the logger:
    07:53:26 Info Day= 30.0
    07:53:26 Info Month= 12.0
    07:53:26 Info Year = 2022.0
    But the result from the upper Formular is
    07:53:26 Info Mon Jan 30 00:00:00 GMT+01:00 2023

    What is wrong with it?

  4. Hello;

    Google spreadsheets have dates in column C.
    In the output of this code that I wrote in the Apps Script section, the dates are missing 1 day.
    Example: The date in column C2 is 23.10.2022, when I print from postman it is "2022-10-22T21:00:00.000Z"

    if (mo == "kontrol") {
    var id = e.parameter.id;
    var doc = SpreadsheetApp.getActiveSpreadsheet();
    var sheet = doc.getSheetByName('Sayfa1');
    var values = sheet.getRange('A:E').getValues();
    var output = [];
    for (var i = 0; i obj.id.toString().toLowerCase().includes(id.toString().toLowerCase()));
    return ContentService.createTextOutput(JSON.stringify(outputToReturn[0])).setMimeType(ContentService.MimeType.JSON);
    }
    return ContentService.createTextOutput(JSON.stringify(output)).setMimeType(ContentService.MimeType.JSON);
    }

  5. Trying to create a column that determines the age of a user based on the DOB.
    Sometimes it works but other times the forward slashes make the formula break. I have tried converting the column to the date format with hyphens but they don't change for some reason unless I manually convert them.

    C18 has the following --> 2006-02-06 ---> which works fine to convert to ---> 16 ----> using =if(ISBLANK(C18),"",floor((Today()-C18)/365))

    but literally, cell below this doesn't work with the same formula and I can't get it to change into the same format with hyphens.

    C19 1/25/2006 ---> gives following error ---> #VALUE! --> formula is same ---> =if(ISBLANK(C19),"",floor((Today()-C19)/365))

    What am i missing here?

  6. How can I make google Sheets recognize that 0:01 AM for the next day is greater than 23:59PM from the previous day?

    1. Hi!
      If the end time is longer than the start time, then you need to add 1 day to their difference

      =IF(A1 > A2,A2-A1+1,A2-A1)

  7. I have a DATEDIF formula but the result is only displaying as a single digit. Eg start date is 19/08/2019 end date is 13/10/2022, my formula is =DATEDIF(C2,D2,"YM") but the result is presenting as '1'

    1. Hello Lyndsay,

      Correct, "YM" you're using in the formula returns the number of whole months between the dates after subtracting whole years. If you need to see 37 (the number of whole months between the dates), use "M" instead.

      You will find more about DATEDIF in this article.

  8. Hi

    How do I convert 20220629 to date ? like 2022/06/29.

    Thanks
    J

    1. Hi Jesh,

      In your case, you need to extract the required digits to the corresponding arguments of the DATE function. Like this:
      =DATE(LEFT(A2,4), MID(A2,5,2), RIGHT(A2,2))

  9. how would I convert times between 12:00-12:59 to 0:00-0:59?

  10. Hey there,

    I'm stuck

    I have a column with the day as 04, 07, 15 etc and they're not consecutive (I'm putting together a silly holiday calendar). The month is a header at the top so I don't include it in the day column data.

    I'd like to automatically change the numbers in that day column to 01/04/2023 etc.
    Is there any way to make that happen?

    1. Hey Evan,

      For Google Sheets to treat such cells as dates, you should enter the dates in any Date format Google recognizes as such I'm afraid.

  11. The numbers of the calender is at 2 4 6 8 10 how can i fix that

  12. Wow this is amazing!

  13. Hi, How can I extract just the date here - Jul 18, 2022, 6:45:03 PM

  14. Hi there!

    How can change date format from 5/23/22 0:00 to 2022-05-23 0:00?

  15. I have an query function that is combining all the date from 11 different tabs in google, but I can't seem to get my function right where it copies the dates from Column M.

    =QUERY({Wagram!A4:AJ;SEARCH!A4:AJ;SHS!A4:AJ;Carver!A4:AJ;SycamorePrimary!A4:AJ;SycamoreElementary!A4:AJ;SpringHill!A4:AJ;SouthJohnson!A4:AJ;LaurelHill!A4:AJ;ABGibson!A4:AJ;Shaw!A4:AJ},"select * where Col13 is not null",-1)

    M has a function in it in each of the 11 tabs where it adds 90 days to a different date on the same spreadsheet. It has something to do with the function not picking up the date or serial number...

    All my dates in M will be less than 6/30/2023. I hope this helps.

    1. Hello Yvette,

      At the glance, your formula looks correct.

      For me to be able to help you better, please share your spreadsheet with us: support@apps4gs.com.
      Note. We keep that Google account for file sharing only and don't monitor its Inbox. Please do not email there. Once you share the file, just confirm by replying to this comment.

      Please don't worry if you have confidential information there, we never disclose the data we get from our customers and delete it as soon as the problem is resolved. Or you can replace any important information with some irrelevant data, just keep the format.

      I'll look into the problem.

  16. Hi,
    I have a format problem, concerning dates, I want dates in dd/mm/yyyy format, and I don't want useless 0 like 01/01/2022, but i want 1/1/2022. But some dates remain with useless 0 and don't changed into 2022 for example :

    18/09/14 20/09/14 18/09/14 20/09/14
    14/10/14 25/09/19 14/10/14 25/09/19
    14/10/14 25/09/19 14/10/14 25/09/19
    14/10/14 25/09/19 14/10/14 25/09/19
    1/1/1980 7/7/2015 1/1/1980 7/7/2015
    2/12/2019 27/01/21 1/1/2020 17/01/21
    20/06/18 27/01/22 26/01/22 27/01/22
    10/9/2021 12/10/2021 10/9/2021 10/9/2021
    21/09/17 8/6/2020 21/09/17 8/6/2020
    8/11/2019 21/01/20 11/12/2019 11/1/2020
    24/05/18 8/6/2022 24/10/18 10/7/2019

    Thanks for your answer.

      1. As i am trying to use countifs formula for eg:- column C has filled with dark and column b with date , so I want to use this formula in a way if i give a date range for 15th jan to 20th jan how many count of dark is there while trying a formula in excel it was working but not in google sheet as there was some issue with date format while trying to change the date format for few cells it got changed but for few it didnt how to resolve these both issues

        1. Hello Satish,

          I'm sorry but your task is not clear. For me to be able to help you, please share a small sample spreadsheet with us (support@apps4gs.com) with 2 sheets: (1) a copy of your source data with the formula that doesn't work (2) the result you expect to get. The result sheet is of great importance as it gives us a better understanding than any text description.

          Please shorten the tables to 10-20 rows.

          Note. We keep that Google account for file sharing only and don't monitor its Inbox. Please do not email there. Once you share the file, just confirm by replying to this comment.

          I'll look into your task and try to help.

  17. I have a problem.
    When i enter 03/06/2022, it takes it as 3rd month which is march and date as 6. However, i want it to be 3 day of June.

    Please see if you can help.
    Thanking you
    Yash

      1. Hello,
        I'm having the same question.
        I've imported .csv data from another locale (USA) to European locale.
        The sheets does not recognize the data as dates (when the day is bigger than 12)
        How can I rewrite to "my locale"?
        Custom Date & Time doesn't help/work

        Thank you & regards,
        Jan

        1. Hello Jan,

          Please follow the link I gave in the comment above to see how to change your spreadsheet locale.

  18. Hello!
    I am using date-time format(dd,mm,yyy hh:mm:ss) and I would like to plot the date on one axis in the time in the other axis.

    I think it is not possible and for this reason, I would like to separate the date and the time into two columns: in one the date, and in another one the time. Is there a query that can be used?

  19. I have a spreadsheet with dates expressed as dd/mm/yyyy but one individual cell incorrectly formats the output to mm/dd/yyyy and no matter how many times I've tried reformatting it to the correct format it won't display in the correct manner. Cells above and below display correctly, and reformatting all cells in the column also failed to correct this one cell. I've tried deleting the contents of the cell, removing formatting from the cell, copying formatting from other cells to no avail. While I can look at the data entry bar and see the correct date it doesn't display correctly in the cell. Any suggestions please?

      1. Thanks Natalia. The locale was certainly wrong and I have fixed that. Unfortunately some cells despite changing the locale and re-formatting the cells, refused to show the correct (Australian) date settings with the data already entered. Luckily the spreadsheet was small so I manually re-entered the dates and they came out correct. I will be wise to the locale issue in future. Thanks again.

  20. Hello!
    My data exports in format "Mon Feb 21 10:58:16 UTC 2022" but I need to change this to some standard format such as "dd-mm-yyyy" (I don't care about the other exported info). Is there a way to do it with a formula? Or how else?
    Thank you!

    1. Hello Mike,

      Assuming the date is in A2, try this formula:
      =DATEVALUE(MID(B5,5,6)&" "&RIGHT(B5,4))

      Don't forget to apply the Date format to a cell with this formula.

      1. I changed the B5s in your formula to A2 and it works! Thank you, you are a wizard! Have an amazing day

        1. Sorry, my bad! I tested the formula in regard to B5 and haven't changed it to A2 :)
          Happy to hear it helps!

  21. I have my date column as YR:MO:DY HR:MN:SE
    which is what I need, but my 'seconds' in that format have a decimal and additional digits, so the entry is longer that what is needed (only 2 digit seconds). Can I remove the decimal and all digits to the right via automated method which would leave only 2 digits for second data, or is that type of request not supported? (removing digits to the right of the decimal would still need to leave those same digits to the left of the decimal) Thanks.

    1. Hello Shaun,

      Can you please provide an example of what you see in a cell exactly and what you'd like to get instead?

      1. format current: 2021/12/29 23:20:45.71994700:00
        format desired: 06/14/2017 20:57:35

        I am not sure how to switch the date format to MM/DD/YR within the context of the time data. And need to remove everything after and including the decimal for the seconds. Thanks.

        1. Thank you for the examples, Shaun.

          If I get it correctly, you can first split your current record by a period using any method described here. This will return 2021/12/29 23:20:45 into one of the columns (let's suppose column B).

          Then you'll just need to use one the ways described in the blog post above to transform the format. For example: =QUERY(B2,"select * format B 'mm/dd/yyy h:m:s'")

          1. Thanks, that was very helpful. One last question - I can only have 8 decimal places max. One of my columns is current 9 places. How do I delete only the 9th place to the right of the decimal? Example: 5.527243528

  22. Hi there,

    Apologies if you've answered this a million times. I was trying to figure out how to make the cell following the one that I edited automatically update to the preceding date. So if I type 2/23, the next cell updates to 2/24 and so on. It seems like this is an automatic feature but it's not working for me. I do have the first cell entered as the word "Date" and then the next cell entered as Sunday, Feb,20, then I'd like the next cells to automatically update the dates.

    I read about the custom date and time feature and did that. Also, I'm being picky here but I don't know why the date reads "Sunday, Feb 20," I wanted it to get rid of that last comma. Thanks so much!!

    1. Hi Jon,

      You need to fill at least 2 cells with dates so Google Sheets could understand the desired pattern. Please see Method 2 in this blog post for details.

      To get rid of the last comma, I'd advise you to open the custom format settings and make sure no comma is at the end there.

  23. Good day! Please help me figure out this Google sheet formula where i am getting a decimal numbers instead of date format from other sheet. I am using the =importrange(datevalue(sheetname!entire column name:entire column name&2/5/2022 8:50:00)) this formula "unique(sheetname!column name:column name) is working when it isn't joined in many formulas. Please let me know how to fix this problem. Thank you.

    1. Good day, Jason!

      IMPORTRANGE requires a spreadsheet_url as its first argument, please see the details here.
      I'd also advise you to check the Number format applied to a column where your formula returns the data.

  24. When I’m using the keys to get current date and time. It gives the past date as xx/xx/1899. Please help me to fix this issue.

  25. Hello,
    I keep getting an error when i run this query;

    =QUERY(A2:N506,"select * format B,'d-mmm-yy (ddd)'")

    I have tried it with different sheets and the result is the same.
    The error is #VALUE!

    1. Hello Damola,

      I can see a comma right after column B in your formula. Try to remove it and see if the formula works then.

      1. Thank you, that was my error, now sorted.

  26. I keep getting this error when i run this query function

    =QUERY(A2:N506,"select * format B,'d-mmm-yy (ddd)'").

    I have tried it on different sheets and the result is the same .
    #VALUE!

    1. Hello Damola,

      I can see a comma right after column B in your formula. Try to remove it and see if the formula works then.

  27. Hello!

    I've been ripping my hair out in regards to how Google Spreadsheet says it has Swedish formatting regarding to dates etc. but when I enter 20/1 (20:th of January) it flips it to 1/20, which is not how short dates are written in Swedish.

    The most common way to write dates are d/m-yy and that format is not recognised as a date format at all. Depending on importance we do use dd.mm.yyyy or yyyy-mm-dd as well and those do work.

    Is there a way to change this so that it recognises the dates as it should? It's really bothersome that the most common way to write something is regarded as unrecognisable...

    1. Hello Kristofer,

      to make Google Sheets understand your 20/1 as a date, enter 20/1/2022 first and then apply a custom date format to this cell (Day/Month). Custom date format will also help you set the date as Day/Month-Year.

      1. Hi, Natalia!

        Thank you for your reply!

        What you suggest only works when writing the whole date in the cell and then tell it to show something else. If I copy the format by using the formatting tool (or manually apply the custom date format) it still flips it to 1/20 instead of 20/1.

        I am trying to make it easier to write the dates short and still use them as real dates, so the point is basically to rid the automatic formatting when entering new data in a cell as it is an error in regards to the regional settings. I have sent Google feedback on this issue several times and I'm trying to find a solution since it doesn't seem to be in their interest to fix it.

        1. Hi Kristofer,

          Until Google Sheets changes the standard format for your region (which I wouldn't expect soon since it looks like they currently use the international standards. You can look up 'ISO 8601' on the Web to find out more), I'm afraid the suggested workaround with a full date is the only way to get the desired result (except for Apps Script, of course).

          I wish I could help you better.

          1. Hi!

            Then I thank you for your time and effort; much appreciated!

  28. is there a way to convert yyyy-mm-ddT00:00:00.000Z format to a standard dd/mm/yyyy?

  29. I need to remove the timestamp and convert date to show only Month & Year, mmm-yyyy
    example - 28/11/2021 23:32:09 format to Nov-2021

    Is there a way to do this in one formula and keeping Nov-2021 in date format not text?

  30. From importrange I am importing data. It's having date field in dd/mm/yyyy (05/08/2021) format. After successful import I am able to check the date showing correctly (05/08/2021). But the thing is here it's showing month as 05 or May instead of 08 or Aug.

  31. A little correction:

    Instead of 102 for November 4, 1900 (100 days after January 1, 1900)

    the correct date is 4/11/1900

  32. I am auto importing some data (with the IMPORTRANGE function) into a spreadsheet that contains a column of dates in this format - 28/06/2012 13:02:28 - but the new imported data into the same column is in this format - 2021-09-28T08:52:17.436Z - which I need to automatically change on import to - 28/09/2021 08:52:17 - Could you help with how/if that is possible? Thanks in advance.

    1. Hello Simon,

      I'm afraid you'll need to convert that column afterwards separately using a formula like this:
      =SUM(SPLIT(A2,"TZ"))

  33. I have a column with BOTH dmmyyyy (one "d" when the day is 1-9, ex: 1092021 represents September 1, 2021) and ddmmyyyy (2 "dd" when the day is 10-31, ex: 14092021 represents September 14, 2021).

    How would I convert this into dd/mm/yyyy so google sheets will recognize it as the correct date ?

    Thanks so very much!

    1. Hello Cisca,

      Changing Number format won't help here because of the way Google interprets dates (as numbers).

      You need to use the method suggested earlier in the comments: extract the necessary parts of your number as a day, month, or year accordingly. For example (supposing the number is in A2):
      =DATE(RIGHT(A2,4),MID(A2,3,2),LEFT(A2,2)) (for when the day is 10-31)
      =DATE(RIGHT(A2,4),MID(A2,2,2),LEFT(A2,1)) (for when the day is 1-9)

  34. Can I change the Date format to Capitalize the Month like this:

    12SEP21. or 12SEP2021??

  35. hello! in my calendar, the dates are appearing as mm/dd/yyyy and i would only like them to appear as a single double-digits number. is there anyway i can fix this? thank you

    1. Hello,

      If I understand you correctly and you'd like to see the days only, just set your custom date format. If that's not exactly what you need, please provide a couple of examples of the dates you have and the dates you'd like to see.

  36. Hi, my sheet requires others to change dates. If one double clicks the cell shows a calendar from which to choose a new date. The problem is once changed, the new date reverts back to a default. How do I lock the format I want but still allow others to double click and change it from the pop up calendar. (Also how do I get the ticker you have on your site. Thanks. Alan

    1. Hi Alan,

      Dates usually change the format if they're set to Automatic or just Date. Try applying the format using custom settings and the date should always display the same format.

      As for the ticker, what do you mean exactly?

  37. Thanks a ton for such comprehensive coverage!

  38. Hi, I am getting date in ISO 8601 format, how can convert it into days.
    Ex-date- 2021-02-22T17:18:40+00:00 , I am able to convert 2021-02-22 this part but how can I proceed with the remaining part.

    1. Hi Aman,

      Supposing your ISO date is in A1, to get the time part as well, you can use this formula:
      =TIMEVALUE(MID(A1,12,8))
      Don't forget to apply the 'Time' format afterwards.

      Or even get both date and time with one formula:
      =DATEVALUE(MID(A1,1,10))+TIMEVALUE(MID(A1,12,8))
      Don't forget to apply the 'Date time' format afterwards.

  39. hi
    i was trying convert date value which is in text data type into date data type i did try using DATEVALUE and TO_DATE combination to turn it into number data type but it is not changing i also tried using query function with format but it doesn't work to so pls can you suggest something it would helpful

    1. Hi Shubham,

      Please specify how your 'text date' looks like and how you'd like it to see as a result. You can also provide the formulas you used, I'll see if there's a mistake somewhere.

  40. Hi, how to convert a date like this 2021-07-27T15:30:47.000Z to MM/DD/YYYY

  41. Looks like a useful site/article, unfortunately the ridiculous ticker running across the bottom of the page is so distracting I gave up and left your site. Even the little minimise icon just makes it smaller, but no less annoying.

    1. Thank you for your feedback. Sorry to hear it didn't let you finish the article. We'll make the bar static when minimized as soon as possible.

  42. How come you cant make the cells understand that they are dates. And sort them by date, month and year. Makes me think Im an iddeeet. Bye

  43. Hi,
    I'm still having trouble with my google sheet. Despite changing the locale and time zone to UK and formatted the date, it still appears in MM/DD/YYYY instead of DD/MM/YYYY. Can I email my google sheet to you and have it checked?

    Thanks.

    1. Hi Leng,

      Sure, feel free to share your spreadsheet with us – support@apps4gs.com. Please also highlight cells that don't display correctly or reply here where to look at.
      Note. We keep that Google account for file sharing only and don't monitor its Inbox. Please do not email there. Once you share the file, just confirm by replying to this comment.

  44. Hi Natalia--thanks for all your comments above. I've got a quandary with Sheets automatically converting a string to a date when an array function is pulling values from cells with either two-digit or three-digit strings like "4 5" or "1 2 3". The displayed values are respectively "44291" and "37623", respectively. Other cells that the array function uses that are populated with four-digit or one-digit strings like "4 5 6 7" "1" are accurately reflected as displayed.

    It's easy to replicate the problem by simply typing in the string and Sheets will automatically change the number to a date. And then you can force it to use Text as a format in that instance and it will be accurately displayed. However, choosing Text as the format of the affected cells in the array doesn't change the display.

    Is there a way to somehow constrain the source cells to be pulled in as text rather than as a date? I couldn't find a function to do that and I can't just do a concatenate because of the complicated nature of how it's building the strings.

    Thanks for your assistance!

    Scott

    1. Hi Scott,

      I'm unable to reproduce the problem with the concatenation – the strings are merged together as text. Could you perhaps share the exact formula you're using?

  45. Dear Natalia,

    How can I change the timestamp from 10/20/2072 19:06:56 (this came when I did the importdata of the query) to 05/27/2021 09:33:56 (the actual timestamp from my query). But on our data warehouse the dates are correct like this (05/27/2021 09:33:56)

    1. Dear Shuja,

      Go to File > Spreadsheet settings and make sure the locale and time zone are the same as in the correct spreadsheet.

      If this doesn't help, consider sharing an editable copy of your spreadsheet with us (support@apps4gs.com) and specify where the formula is.
      Note. We keep that Google account for file sharing only and don't monitor its Inbox. Please do not email there. Once you share the file, just confirm by replying to this comment.

  46. Dear

    Please help in timestamp function
    i have applied Timestamp function in doer sheet its working but issue is that we he done work timestamp taking current Date & time for Example:

    A Task Which Plan to do 25-05-2021 09:15 AM
    Doer Actual timestamp Do it 25-05-2021 09:20 AM

    But When he open after an hours sheet Actual Time Showing Current date time

    Please suggest here what can i do here
    i appropriate your positive response

    1. Dear Rahul,

      If you use NOW() to stamp the time, please bear in mind that NOW is volatile function. It recalculates itself in all cells on each start and once anything at all is edited in your spreadsheet. There are 3 ways to change this behaviour:

      1. Open the spreadsheet, go to File > Spreadsheet settings > Calculation and pick one of three existing settings for Recalculation.
      2. Enter static dates and time manually or using the following keyboard shortcuts:
        • Ctrl+; for date
        • Ctrl+Shift+: for time
      3. Or you may try to find a solution here – an overview of Google Apps Script with a lot of helpful content and links: https://developers.google.com/apps-script/overview

  47. i am able to use datevalue to convert 04/11/2019 to 43773 , but i get #VALUE! while trying to apple samer datevalue to 6/25/19

    i have tried cahnge the system dater as well
    I tried copying as values
    i tried formatting as text

    no success
    :(

    1. Hello Terence,

      Please consider sharing your spreadsheet where the formula doesn't work with us (support@apps4gs.com). If you have confidential information there, you can replace it with some irrelevant data, just keep the dates and their formats.

      Note. We keep that Google account for file sharing only and don't monitor its Inbox. Please do not email there. Once you share the file, just confirm by replying to this comment.

      I'll look into it.

  48. Hello, I am in a special configuration...

    I have :
    Nov 5, 2018, 1:33:05 AM

    I want : 05/11/2018 01:33

    Impossible with Excel, and I tried with Google Sheet but it seems too difficult for me... :(

    Thanks for your help.

    Best regards,
    JP

      1. Thanks :)

  49. This article was really helpful with easy instructions to change MMDDYY to DDMMYY. Thankyou

  50. I have been writing data in google sheet in DD-MM-YYYY but it has taken data in MM-DD-YYYY format, so when I sort the date, I am receiving wrong sequence

    1. Hello Madhur,

      Dates in Google Sheets are always sorted from the newest to the latest or back. If you want to sort only by days or by months, you will have to either convert dates to text or extract days/month to a neighbouring column and use it to sort data.

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