How dates work
Spreadsheets, including Google Sheets, store dates as numbers. Dates can be shown in many different formats to the user, but their value is still just an integer. All of the rows in this table consist of 42734 displayed differently.
| 42734 | No formatting applied |
| 12/30/2016 | Format -> Number -> Date |
| 12-30-2016 | Format -> Number -> More Date and Time Formats… |
| 12/30 | Format -> Number -> More Date and Time Formats… |
| Friday, December 30, 2016, 12:00:00 AM | Format -> Number -> More Date and Time Formats… |
If you are using dates in formulas, it is imperative that you understand this concept. If you write something like =12/31/15-12/31/14 the result will be -.002, which surely wouldn’t be what you were looking for. Sheets will think that you are dividing because of the slashes instead of showing dates. A similar thing out will occur if you try =12-31-15-12-31-14. The separators for dates, slashes or hyphens, are also arithmetic operators. The spreadsheet cannot interpret dates unless they are surrounded by quotes.
| -0.000860215053763443 | Written as =12/31/15-12/30/15 |
| -91 | Written as =12-31-15-12-30-15 |
| 1 | Written as =”12/31/15″-“12/30/15” |
How to use dates in formulas
How dates and times work in Sheets
Tip: If you are not in the United States, you may need to change your spreadsheet settings to show dates in the correct format for your location.
If you enter dates in a non-US format, you may get the #VALUE! error. If you hover over the error, the explanation says, “Function MINUS parameter 1 expects number values. but ’31/12/16′ is a text and cannot be coerced into a number.” In other words, Sheets is not able to convert 30/12/16 to 42,734 nor can it convert 31/12/16 to 42,735 so it cannot subtract the two values.
| entered as MM/DD/YY | entered as DD/MM/YY | |
| start | 12/31/16 | 30/12/16 |
| end | 12/31/16 | 31/12/16 |
| elapsed time | 1 | #VALUE! |
Subtracting two dates: Example 1
The same value formatted in different ways in columns 2 and 3. The elapsed time is subtracting the two values. The result is the same regardless of the format of the cells above. Also note that the result is formatting as an integer. If the result was formatted as a date, it would display “12/31/1899” which would not make sense for this operation.
| Formatted as date | Formatted as number | |
| start | 12/30/16 | 42,734.00 |
| end | 12/31/16 | 42,735.00 |
| elapsed time | 1 | 1.00 |
Subtracting two dates: Example 2
The same value formatted in different ways in columns 2 and 3. It is similar to example one, but you should look at this one too just for giggles. Notice the extra day for leap year.
| start | 12/31/15 | 42,369.00 |
|---|---|---|
| end | 12/31/16 | 42,735.00 |
| elapsed time | 366 (2016 was a leap year) | 366.00 (2016 was a leap year) |
The beginning of time
According to Google Sheets, time started on December 31, 1899. However, the dates before this will still exist, but they will be represented by negative integers.
| Formatted as date | Formatted as number |
|---|---|
| 12/29/1899 | -1.00 |
| 12/30/1899 | 0.00 |
| 12/31/1899 | 1.00 |
| 1/1/1900 | 2.00 |
How times work
Times work similar to dates in that they are shown as times, but they are actually numbers. One hour is .0417, which is the result of 1 hour divided by 24 hours in a day.
| 3:00 AM | Typed as 3am, default formatting |
| 9:00 PM | Typed as 9pm, default formatting |
| 0.125 | Typed as 3am, changed formatting to Number -> Automatic |
| .875 | Typed as 9pm, changed formatting to Number -> Automatic |
How dates and times work together
Once you understand how dates and times work, combining the two is easy.
| 12/31/16 3:00 AM | Typed as 12/31/16 3am, default formatting |
| 42735.125 | Typed as 12/31/16 3am, changed formatting to Number -> Automatic |
Live example in Sheets
Go to this spreadsheet for a live version of these example, so you can study and use them anywhere you like.