How to use TODAY in Google Sheets
Days since a date
How TODAY works
TODAY returns today’s date, and updates every time the sheet recalculates. Take a date away from it to get the days since then. To type today’s date as a fixed value instead, press Ctrl+;.
Days since the first order shipped. It goes up by one each day.
What you’ll do
You’ll work out how long ago an order was placed. Counting from today is how a sheet keeps track of overdue invoices, ages of open tickets or days until a deadline, and the number updates by itself.
Try it
Type =TODAY()-H2 into K2 and press Enter. Watch what the sheet does.
The result will appear in K2.
Click K2 and press Ctrl+; Mac ⌘+;: Sheets types today’s date as a fixed value that won’t change tomorrow, unlike TODAY(). Press Esc to leave it out. (Type today’s date.)
| A | B | C | D | E | F | G | H | I | J | K | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Order | Rep | Region | Product | Units | Price | Order date | Ship date | |||
| 2 | 1001 | Ana | West | Desk | 3 | 240 | 1/5/2026 | 1/9/2026 | |||
| 3 | 1002 | Bo | East | Chair | 8 | 85 | 1/12/2026 | 1/20/2026 | |||
| 4 | 1003 | Cy | West | Lamp | 12 | 30 | 1/19/2026 | 1/22/2026 | |||
| 5 | 1004 | Di | North | Desk | 2 | 240 | 2/2/2026 | 2/13/2026 | |||
| 6 | 1005 | Ana | West | Chair | 5 | 85 | 2/9/2026 | 2/12/2026 | |||
| 7 | 1006 | Eve | South | Shelf | 4 | 120 | 2/16/2026 | 2/27/2026 | |||
| 8 | 1007 | Bo | East | Lamp | 20 | 30 | 3/2/2026 | 3/4/2026 | |||
| 9 | 1008 | Cy | West | Shelf | 1 | 120 | 3/9/2026 | 3/18/2026 | |||
| 10 | 1009 | Di | North | Chair | 6 | 85 | 3/16/2026 | 3/19/2026 | |||
| 11 | 1010 | Eve | South | Desk | 7 | 240 | 3/23/2026 | 4/1/2026 |
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In K2, work out how many days have passed since the row 2 order was placed.
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