How can update a date in excell automatically to today's date?

Question

I have to reenter a date every day into an excel spreadsheet. Can the date be automatically changed to the current date? If so, how do I do that?

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Answer 1

if u want the date to roll to today on its own, the cleanest thing is just =TODAY()… excel recalcs it without u touching the sheet. and if u ever need a shifted day like tomorrow or a review cycle it’s the same idea with a small offset (=TODAY()+1).

Answer 2

Dear @THOMAS SMITH,

Welcome to Microsoft Q&A. 

Thank you for your question. From what you described, it sounds like you have a date in your Excel sheet that you have to re‑enter every day, and you were hoping Excel could update it automatically to today’s date.

In Excel, the way automatic dates work can be a bit confusing. The function that shows today’s date is =TODAY(), and it updates itself every time the workbook is opened or recalculated. That means it always changes to the current date it never stays fixed. If someone needs a date that updates daily, this works well; but if they need to keep the previous day’s value, then TODAY() won’t be suitable because it will always change.

If your goal is simply to have the cell show today’s date automatically, you can type =TODAY() into that cell. Excel will display today’s date immediately. If the cell previously contained a manual date, you may need to clear it first before typing the formula.

Here’s a simple way to do it: Click the cell, type =TODAY() > press Enter.

The date will update on its own each day without needing to re-enter anything.

If what you actually need is for Excel to record today’s date once and keep it unchanged, Excel doesn’t do that automatically by itself. The usual way is to enter today’s date as a static value. The simplest method is: place your cursor in the cell: Press Ctrl + ; (semicolon)

Excel will insert today’s date as a fixed value that will not update tomorrow or later.

Please understand that our initial response does not always resolve the issue immediately. However, with your help and more detailed information, we can work together to find a solution.  

I hope this information helps point you in the right direction. If this doesn’t match the behavior you’re seeing, feel free to share a screenshot or a short example of what happens in your file, I’m happy to help you sort it out.

Looking forward to hearing back from you with any updates or additional details. 

Warm regards, 

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Answer 3

To automatically update a date in Excel to today's date, you can use a simple formula. Here’s how to do it:

1. Open your Excel spreadsheet.
2. Select the cell where you want the current date to appear.
3. Enter the formula: =TODAY()
   This formula will always display the current date and will update automatically each day when you open the spreadsheet.

Alternatively, if you want to use Office Scripts with Power Automate to set the date in a specific cell, you can create a script that updates the cell with the current date. Here's a brief overview of how to set that up:

1. Create a new workbook and a worksheet where you want to log the date.
2. Go to the Automate tab and select New Script.
3. Use a script to set the current date in a specific cell. For example, you can use the following script to set the date in cell A1:

      function main(workbook: ExcelScript.Workbook) {
          const sheet = workbook.getWorksheet("YourWorksheetName");
          const currentDate = new Date();
          sheet.getRange("A1").setValue(currentDate);
      }
   

4. Connect this script to a Power Automate flow to run it automatically based on your schedule.

Using either the =TODAY() formula or an Office Script with Power Automate will help you keep your date updated without manual entry each day.