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How to get the start of the week for a date in Excel and Google Sheets
Excel & Google Sheets
=A2-WEEKDAY(A2,2)+1Try it with your data
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Step by step
- 1Put your dates in column A (e.g., A2:A6).
- 2In B2 enter =A2-WEEKDAY(A2,2)+1 — WEEKDAY with mode 2 returns 1 for Monday through 7 for Sunday, so subtracting it and adding 1 snaps back to Monday.
- 3Format column B as a Date to display the result correctly.
- 4Copy B2 down for all rows.
Tips
- To get Sunday as the week start, use =A2-WEEKDAY(A2,1)+1 (mode 1 counts Sunday as day 1).
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Frequently asked
Why does the result show a number instead of a date?
The formula returns a date serial number. Select the cell and format it as Date (Ctrl+1 in Excel or Format > Number > Date in Sheets).
Can I get the ISO week start (always Monday)?
Yes — =A2-WEEKDAY(A2,2)+1 uses mode 2 which treats Monday as day 1, making it the ISO week start.