Keeping track of dates and times in Excel spreadsheets can be a tedious task, especially if you have to make manual updates every time someone is hired or a new date is needed. However, there are some handy shortcuts that can help you speed up this process.
In this tutorial, we will show you how to quickly enter today’s date and time into your spreadsheets. First, let’s review how to use the “today” function to display the current date. Simply type “=TODAY()” into a cell, and every time you open the spreadsheet, it will display the current date.
But what if you don’t want the date to change every time you open the spreadsheet? For example, if you have a list of employees and their hire dates, you don’t want the hire date to change every time you open the spreadsheet. In this case, you can manually enter the date, but that can be time-consuming.
To speed up the process, you can click on a particular cell and just type the month, forward slash, and then the day, leaving the year off. Excel will automatically put in the current year. However, there is an even faster way.
To enter today’s date quickly, simply click on a particular cell, hold the “Ctrl” key, and tap the semicolon. Excel will automatically put in whatever today’s date is into that cell. Then, just tap enter on the keyboard, and you’re ready to move on. This shortcut is quick and easy.
But what if you also need to record the time someone was hired? You can hold “Ctrl” and “Shift” and tap the semicolon to put in the current time. It’s important to note that the date and time you enter using these shortcuts do not update or change unless you click on them and type over them.
In summary, Excel provides some shortcuts to help you enter today’s date and time quickly and easily. By using these shortcuts, you can save time and focus on more important tasks.