Calculate the Days Between Two Dates

Excel & Google Sheets

How it works

Spreadsheets store every date as a serial number counting days since a fixed start point, so subtracting two dates gives the whole days between them — no function needed. An order placed 10 June and delivered 8 July is simply 28. The result excludes the start date and includes the end date, which is what most people expect for elapsed time. If you prefer an explicit function, =DATEDIF(A2,B2,"D") returns the identical day count and reads more clearly in an audit. Just keep the earlier date in A2: subtracting the wrong way round gives a negative number, and DATEDIF with reversed dates errors with #NUM!.

B2

The later date — delivery, payment, completion.

-A2

Subtracts the earlier date. Dates are numbers, so the result is the day gap.

When to use it

Use it for order-to-delivery time, days from invoice to payment, project duration, or ticket age — any "how long did it take?" question between two recorded dates.

Common mistakes

• ✕The result shows a date like 1/28/1900 instead of 28.

  ✓The cell inherited date formatting. Switch its number format to General or Number — the math was right all along.

• ✕One of the dates is text.

  ✓"July 8" typed as text makes the subtraction fail with #VALUE!. Re-enter it as a real date or convert with DATEVALUE.

• ✕Expecting business days.

  ✓Plain subtraction counts every calendar day, weekends included. For working days only, use =NETWORKDAYS(A2,B2) instead.