How to use DATE in Excel
Builds a date from a year, month and day.
Syntax
yearFour-digit yearmonthMonth, 1–12dayDay of the monthExample
Here’s DATE on a small table of orders. The highlighted cells are the ones the formula reads.
=TEXT(DATE(2026,12,25),"dddd")Edit this formula live Change the ranges and watch the answer update. Free, no sign-up.
Common mistakes with DATE
Year, month, day order
DATE(2026,11,2) is November 2, no matter how your computer shows dates.
Months roll over
DATE(2026,13,1) becomes January 1, 2027, which is handy for adding months.
What the error messages mean
Type these slips into Gridwise and this is the feedback you get:
Leaving off the closing bracket
=TEXT(DATE(2026,12,25),"dddd"
Parentheses don’t match. You have 2 opening and 1 closing parentheses. Every ( needs a ).
Text without quotes
=TEXT(DATE(2026,12,25),dddd)
Text needs quotes. dddd isn’t a function or a cell, so Excel can’t read it. If you mean the word, write "dddd" with quotes.
Questions
What does the DATE function do in Excel?
Builds a date from a year, month and day. The syntax is DATE(year, month, day).
Why is my DATE formula giving the wrong answer?
Year, month, day order: DATE(2026,11,2) is November 2, no matter how your computer shows dates. Months roll over: DATE(2026,13,1) becomes January 1, 2027, which is handy for adding months.
Does DATE work in Google Sheets?
Most Excel functions, including the core ones on this page, work the same way in Google Sheets. A few newer functions arrived in Sheets later or behave slightly differently, so test it on your own data.