How to Use NOW Function in Excel?

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NOW Function in Excel: We all know that Excel has the most advanced features for performing operations on it. On that note, sometimes, we may forget the current time and date because of tension and want to insert it on the spreadsheet. In this situation, we suggest you use the NOW function. Because it will display the current date and time on a worksheet.

In this short tutorial, we will describe the definition, syntax, and usage of the NOW function in Excel with practical examples. Get the official version of MS Excel from the following link:

https://www.microsoft.com/en-in/microsoft-365/excel

Definition of NOW Function

It is one of the built-in functions in Excel.
The NOW Function in Excel returns the current date and time.
The returned value of the NOW function will be updated every time you open or refresh the worksheet.
If your Excel cell format was General before the NOW function was entered, MS Excel alters the cell format to match it with the format of the date & time of your regional settings.

Syntax

Here, you will see the syntax of the NOW function.
To apply this function on your spreadsheet, you have to select a cell and enter the formula in the following format.
Once you enter the formula, just click on the Enter button to get the result.

=NOW()

The NOW function takes no arguments but requires empty parentheses.

Practical Examples

Let’s look at some examples of the NOW function and explore how to use it in the Excel spreadsheet.

Initially, you have to open your Excel workbook on your PC and launch a worksheet that has data.
For example, we currently enter the formula in cell B3, as shown in the below image in order to get the current date and time.

To get the result, you will need to click on the Enter button.

Now, we are going to calculate the date and time after 12 hours. For that, you have to enter the following formula in any cell.

=NOW()+0.5

After entering the formula, you will need to click on the Enter button on your keyboard to get the output.

Let’s see one more example to make it clear. Here, we will see how to return the date and time after 3 days using the NOW function.
For that, we have entered the following formula in Cell B3, as shown below.

=NOW()+3

After applying the NOW function, you have to click on the Enter button to get the result.

Note:
1) Time values are a part of a date value and illustrated by a decimal number (for example, half of a day (12:00 PM) is represented as (0.5).
2) If you enter ‘+‘ sign with the decimal value, it will add it to the current date & time and display the result. If you enter ‘–‘ sign, it will lessen it from the current date & time.
3) #VALUE! error – It occurs, if you enter the value which is not a valid Excel time.

Closure

In the above short article, we have described the usage of the NOW function in Excel for the calculation of the current date and time. Share your valuable comments to keep us motivated all the time. To learn more about Excel functions, then visit our webpage Aawexcel.com.