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TODAY vs NOW: date only vs date and time in Excel and Sheets
Heads up: Excel and Google Sheets do this differently.
Excel
=TODAY()Google Sheets
=NOW()Try it with your data
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Sample data — click any cell to edit
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Step by step
- 1=TODAY() returns today's date at midnight — use it for age, deadlines, and day counts.
- 2=NOW() returns the date and current time — use it for timestamps and elapsed-time tracking.
- 3Both recalculate whenever the sheet changes; to freeze a value, paste it as a static value.
Tips
- NOW() - TODAY() gives just the current time as a fraction of a day.
- Format the cell to control whether the time portion is shown.
Need the Google Sheets version instead? Open Sheets variant in workspace →
Working on a sheet you inherited? Run the Auditor on the whole file first — it flags every #REF!, #N/A, broken column pattern, and inconsistent formula in seconds, free, no signup.
Frequently asked
How do I stop the date from changing every day?
TODAY and NOW are live. To capture a fixed moment, copy the cell and Paste Special → Values, or press Ctrl+; (date) / Ctrl+Shift+; (time) to type a static stamp.