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How to convert text to a date in Excel and Google Sheets
Topic:Text manipulationExcel & Google Sheets
=DATEVALUE(A2)Try it with your data
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Step by step
- 1Enter the text date string in A2 (e.g., "January 15, 2024" or "2024-01-15").
- 2In a result cell, enter =DATEVALUE(A2).
- 3The result is a date serial number. Format the result cell as a Date to see the readable date.
- 4If DATEVALUE returns an error, the text format may not be recognized. Try using DATE with MID/LEFT/RIGHT to parse the components manually.
- 5Once converted, you can use the result in date arithmetic and functions like DATEDIF.
Tips
- In Google Sheets, importing CSV data often produces text dates. Use DATEVALUE in a helper column, then paste-as-values to replace the text column with real dates.
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Frequently asked
Why does DATEVALUE return a #VALUE! error?
The text string is not in a format that DATEVALUE recognizes. Common issues include non-standard separators, ambiguous formats like DD/MM/YYYY vs MM/DD/YYYY, or extra spaces. Use TRIM and SUBSTITUTE to clean the string first.
How do I convert dates in a non-standard format like 20240115?
Parse manually: =DATE(LEFT(A2,4),MID(A2,5,2),RIGHT(A2,2)) extracts year, month, and day from an 8-digit YYYYMMDD string.
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