Is this your last working week of the year or do you carry on until the bitter end? Whatever date you want to count down to (a holiday, anniversary, birthday, wedding, retirement, completion of house ... or Christmas) you can use Excel’s NETWORKDAYS function to calculate the number of whole working days between two dates. It will exclude weekends and any dates you identify as holidays.
Here's how:
1. Enter today’s date in, say, cell A2 by typing =TODAY()
2. Select cell B2 and enter the date of the event (say, 31/12/14)
3. Select the cell in which the countdown result is to appear (say, C2) and type =NET.
4. Press TAB to autocomplete the NETWORKDAYS formula. (It even opens a bracket for you!)
5. Click on the start date (e.g. cell A2)
6. Type a comma.
7. Click on the end date (e.g. cell B2).
8. Press ENTER.
If you plan to take some time off in between the start and end date, stick these dates in a separate column and add them as a range to your formula. Have a look at http://www.roem.co.uk/Xmascountdown.xls to see a helpful example of how many days to work until Christmas, assuming you take the week of the 22nd off. Speaking of which …. most of you will probably take that week off, so I have decided this will be the last tip for 2014. Wishing you all a relaxing break!
* Unless stated otherwise, these tips were written for Microsoft Office 2010.
PS I'm committed to sharing the best of what I know with others so please don't keep these tips a secret. If you enjoyed today's tip, please forward it to anyone you feel may benefit or reprint it (with full copyright and subscription information) in your newsletters and message boards. Got a tip to share? Submit it by emailing karen@roem.co.uk - if your tip is selected, I'll publish it along with your name; the bragging rights will last a lifetime.
16 December 2014
Karen Roem offers software training and support through her company Roem Ltd. Contact her by email (Karen@roem.co.uk) or visit her website at www.roem.co.uk
Please note: Cambridge Network's Learning Collaboration members have the opportunity to book places on Roem Ltd courses at a reduced rate.
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