How To Insert Date In Google Sheets

Sometimes, y'all may desire to quickly insert a timestamp in Google Sheets to mark when the activeness was washed.

In that location are multiple means of calculation a timestamp in Google Sheets and in this tutorial, I will show you three such methods.

Each method has information technology's pros and cons and I have listed these conspicuously.

Keyboard Shortcut to Insert TimeStamp

If y'all want to quickly insert a timestamp in one jail cell (or a few cells), y'all can use the below keyboard shortcuts:

To Insert the electric current appointment

          Command + :          (hold the Control cardinal and press the colon key)

To insert the current time

          Command + Shift + :          (hold the Command and Shift keys and press the colon key).

Note that these keyboard shortcuts would insert a static appointment and time value. This means that if you make any changes in the worksheet or close and open up it, these date/time values will not change.

In case you want to go a combined value of engagement also as time, yous can get-go utilise these two keyboard shortcuts to insert the date and fourth dimension then just add together these ii cells (equally shown below).

Remember to convert the formula to value to make sure the combined timestamp (with appointment and fourth dimension) is a static value (hint: employ Paste Special to practise this).

Formula to Insert TimeStamp

At that place are a couple of formulas that you can use to apace insert the date and fourth dimension in Google Sheets.

To insert the electric current date, use the below formula:

          =TODAY()

To insert the current appointment too as the electric current time, use the below formula:

          =NOW()

Note that these formulas are volatile, which means that if you change whatsoever jail cell in the Google Sheets certificate, it will atomic number 82 to a recalculation and make these formulas to update.

And so if y'all use the TODAY function in a cell and open up that Google Sheet certificate the next day, the formula will update to testify you the current date.

In case yous want these to exist static values, you tin catechumen the formula to value (or use the keyboard shortcuts covered above).

Likewise, the result of these formulas is a number (every bit all date and time values are stored every bit numbers in Google Sheets). This allows you to format the result and testify information technology in different formats.

For case, if you accept a date as 01-01-2020, below are some of the formats you can employ to display it:

01 January 2020
January 01, 2020
01/01/2020
01 Jan 2020

Similarly, with time, y'all tin brandish it in the AM/PM format or in 12/24 hour format.

Automatically Insert Fourth dimension Stamp in Google Sheets Using a Script

While both the above methods (keyboard shortcuts and formulas) work well, these would not automatically insert the timestamp for y'all.

For example, suppose you lot have a dataset where you're tracking activities and y'all want a timestamp to be inserted as soon equally an activity is added to a cell.

This tin be done with a simple script in Google Sheets.

Beneath are the steps to utilise a script to automatically add timestamps in Google Sheets:

Open the Google Sheets certificate
Click on the Tools options in the card
Click the 'Script Editor' choice. This volition open up the Script Editor in Google Sheets.

In the script editor code window, copy-paste the post-obit lawmaking (the credit for this script goes to Stackoverflow):

role onEdit() { var s = SpreadsheetApp.getActiveSheet(); if( s.getName() == "Sheet1" ) { //checks that we're on Sheet1 or non var r = s.getActiveCell(); if( r.getColumn() == 1 ) { //checks that the cell being edited is in cavalcade A var nextCell = r.kickoff(0, 1); if( nextCell.getValue() === '' ) //checks if the adjacent cell is empty or not? nextCell.setValue(new Appointment()); } } }

Relieve the code by clicking on the Save icon in the toolbar. It may ask you to requite information technology a name.

Once you lot have this code in identify, whenever yous enter annihilation in any cell in Column A, a timestamp would automatically appear in the adjacent cell in Cavalcade B. Notation that this timestamp is static, which ways it won't modify when yous brand any change in the worksheet.

The higher up code just works on Sheet1 (as we have specified that in the third line. You lot can change the name "Sheet1" to any sheet you desire this code to work on.

Also, the lawmaking has been created considering yous are entering the data in column A and need the time stamp in Column B. Yous can modify these as required.

I hope you found this tutorial almost inserting the timestamp useful!

You may also like the following Google Sheets tutorials:

How to Insert BULLET POINTS in Google Sheets
How to Insert CheckBox (Tick Box) in Google Sheets
How to Get the Give-and-take Count in Google Sheets
How to Add Time in Google Sheets