5 Excel Day of Week Tips

Introduction to Excel Day of Week Functions

When working with dates in Excel, it’s often necessary to determine the day of the week for a given date. Excel provides several functions to achieve this, including the WEEKDAY and TODAY functions. In this article, we’ll explore five tips for working with the day of the week in Excel, covering various scenarios and formulas to help you master date-related tasks.

Tip 1: Using the WEEKDAY Function

The WEEKDAY function in Excel returns the day of the week as a number, where Sunday is 1 and Saturday is 7. The syntax for this function is =WEEKDAY(date, [return_type]). The [return_type] argument is optional and can be set to 1 (default), 2, or 3 to change the starting day of the week. For example, to find the day of the week for the date 02/14/2024, you can use the formula =WEEKDAY(“02/14/2024”). This will return the number corresponding to the day of the week for the given date.

Tip 2: Converting Day of the Week Numbers to Text

To convert the day of the week from a number to text, you can use the CHOOSE function in combination with the WEEKDAY function. The =CHOOSE(WEEKDAY(A1), “Sunday”, “Monday”, “Tuesday”, “Wednesday”, “Thursday”, “Friday”, “Saturday”) formula will return the day of the week as text for the date in cell A1. This is particularly useful for creating reports or charts where the day of the week needs to be displayed in a more readable format.

Tip 3: Determining the Day of the Week for Today’s Date

To find the day of the week for today’s date, you can use the TODAY function in conjunction with the WEEKDAY function. The formula =WEEKDAY(TODAY()) will return the day of the week as a number for the current date. If you want the day of the week as text, you can use the formula =CHOOSE(WEEKDAY(TODAY()), “Sunday”, “Monday”, “Tuesday”, “Wednesday”, “Thursday”, “Friday”, “Saturday”). This is useful for creating dynamic reports that update based on the current date.

Tip 4: Finding the First Day of the Week for a Given Date

Sometimes, you may need to find the first day of the week for a given date. This can be achieved by using the WEEKDAY function to determine how many days before the first day of the week the given date is, and then subtracting that number from the given date. The formula =A1-WEEKDAY(A1)+1 will return the date of the first day of the week (Sunday) for the date in cell A1. If you want the first day of the week to be Monday instead, you can adjust the formula accordingly.

Tip 5: Using Conditional Formatting Based on the Day of the Week

Excel’s conditional formatting feature can be used to highlight cells based on the day of the week. For example, you might want to highlight weekends in a calendar view. To do this, select the range of cells you want to format, go to the Home tab, click on Conditional Formatting, and choose New Rule. Then, use a formula like =WEEKDAY(A1)>5 to highlight cells that fall on a Saturday or Sunday. This can make your spreadsheets more visually appealing and easier to understand at a glance.

📝 Note: When working with dates and the day of the week, it's essential to ensure that your system settings and Excel settings are consistent in terms of the first day of the week to avoid confusion.

To summarize, mastering the day of the week functions in Excel can significantly enhance your productivity and the readability of your spreadsheets. By applying the tips outlined above, you can efficiently determine the day of the week for any given date, convert day numbers to text, find the day of the week for today’s date, determine the first day of the week for a given date, and even use conditional formatting to highlight specific days. These skills are indispensable for anyone working with dates in Excel, whether for personal, academic, or professional purposes.