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Manually entering dates and months in Excel consumes valuable time, reducing work efficiency.
1. Swiftly Enter Dates and Months in Excel Using Excel Date Picker Utility
Step 1: Download the utility to your machine from the link http://samradapps.com/datepicker/
Next, click on Download now to download the file to your computer and extract it into the samradapps_datepicker.xlam file.
Step 2: In Excel, open the File menu.
Next, click on Options.
Step 3: Select Add-ins (1) => Go (2).
Step 4: After the Add-ins window appears, click on Browse to locate the path to the folder containing the downloaded Add-ins file.
Next, select the extracted Add-ins file (1) => OK (2).
Step 5: Click on OK to complete the process of inserting this utility into Excel.
- Pay attention to the Home tab, where the Date Picker tool will appear as shown below:
Step 6: To quickly insert dates and months, navigate to the desired cell (1) => click on Date Picker (2) => choose the desired date and month (3).
After completing the action, you will see the dates and months inserted quickly according to the Excel format.
2. Modify date and month format quickly in the Number section
2.1. Swiftly convert date and time formats
Explore the Number section on the Home menu to discover features for adjusting time formats like Short Date, Long Date, and Time. This function facilitates swift conversion of date formats based on entered data. Check out the example below:
Step 1: Input a date format into an Excel cell (1) using the format dd/mm/yyyy or dd-mm-yyyy, and Excel will automatically recognize it as a date format. Then, select the Date cell (2) in the Number section.
Step 2: Choose from options such as Short Date (concise date format), Long Date (complete date format), and Time (hour, minute format). If you wish to insert the full date and time format, instead of entering all details, simply input in short format (d/m/yy or d-m-yy) and switch to Long Date.
Step 3: In case you switch to a different format but encounter ##### characters in the cell, hover between two columns and drag to expand the cell in Excel.
Once you expand the cell spacing, the value will be displayed in full as shown below:
2.2 Employ Custom Format to swiftly format dates
Step 1: Click on the cell needing date formatting (1). Then, go to the Home menu (2) => click the dropdown arrow on Number Format (3).
Step 2: The Format Cells window appears. Click on Custom (1) => Select your desired date format (2) => OK (3).
- Whether you enter dates like 19-09/2019 or 09-19-2019, they will automatically revert to the format dd/mm/yyyy (day/month/year), meaning 19/09/2019.
3. Quickly input current date and month using functions or shortcuts
3.1. Utilize the Today function
To swiftly input the current date and month, type the function =TODAY() and press Enter.
After inputting, the date and month will display and be inserted into the selected cell.
3.2. Utilize shortcuts
You can use shortcuts to quickly insert the current date and month as demonstrated below:
- Press the shortcut Ctrl + ; (1) to insert the current date with the format d/m/yyyy.
- Press the shortcut Ctrl + Shift + ; (2) to insert the current time with the format hh:mm.
- Press the sequence of shortcuts Ctrl + ; => SPACE => Ctrl + Shift + ; (3) to insert the date, month in the format d/m/yyyy hh:mm.
4. Swiftly input dates, months in Excel with the Text to Columns feature
Step 1: Create a simple date column in numeric format as shown below. Then, highlight all values needing conversion to date format (1) => Data (2) => Text to Columns (3).
Step 2: Click on Fixed width (1) => Next (2).
Step 3: Select Date (1) => click the arrow (2) => choose DMY (3) => Finish (4).
After completing these steps, the values will be converted to date format as shown below:
With the guidance provided in the article, you can swiftly input dates and months in Excel effortlessly. Wishing you success!
