Have you ever found yourself wondering just how many days are left in the year?
Whether you’re anxiously counting the days until your next vacation or frantically trying to meet end-of-year deadlines, fear not!
While It can be challenging to compute it manually, with just a few simple Excel functions, you can easily calculate the exact number of days remaining in the year.
So, grab your coffee (or energy drink, if you’re feeling adventurous), and let’s get to it!
Method 1 – Calculate the Number of Days Left In the Year Using the Current Date
Let’s say that we need to find the number of days left from today’s date.
We can easily use the below formula to calculate the number of days left from the current date.
=DATE(YEAR(TODAY()),12,31)-TODAY()
In the above formula, we simply subtract the current date from the last date of the current year.
We can use Excel’s TODAY function to get the current date. The syntax of the TODAY function is TODAY(). It has no arguments. You have to just type the function and close the parentheses.
We have used the below formula to find the last date of the current year.
=DATE(YEAR(TODAY()),12,31)
The syntax of the DATE function is DATE(year, month, date). Since we want this to be the last date of the current year, we can use =YEAR(TODAY) to get the year value using the current date. The rest two arguments will be 12 and 31 as the last date would also be 31st December of the year.
Note: Since we have used the TODAY() function in this formula, it has made this formula dynamic. Since the TODAY function is volatile and automatically updates as the date changes, this formula would also automatically update based on the current date.
Also read: How to Get Total Days in Month in Excel?
Method 2 – Get Days Left in the Years From a Specific Date
Sometimes, we need to find the number of days left in the year from a specific date. We can use a simple subtraction in such cases.
The date is given in cell A2 in the table below. Now we need to figure out how many days are left in the year.
We can use a subtraction method to find the number of days left in the year.
=DATE(YEAR(A2),12,31)-A2
In the above formula, we simply subtract the date from the last date of the same year.
We have used the below formula to find the last date of the year.
=DATE(YEAR(A2),12,31)
The syntax of the DATE function is DATE(year, month, date). So, we can get the year of the date by referring to the date cell (Cell A2).
Then, enter 12 and 31 for the month and date, respectively. 12 is the number to represent the last month of the year (December), and 31 is the number to represent the last date of the last month (31st).
Finally, we get the difference between the two dates – 31/12/2023 and 24/02/2023. The answer is the number of days left in the year.
Note: This subtraction is made possible as dates are stored as serial numbers in the backend in Excel.
Also read: How To Highlight Weekends In Excel?
Method 3 – Using the DAYS Function to Get the Number of Days Left in the Year from a Specific Date
Instead of subtracting the date from the end date of the year, we can use the Excel DAYS function to calculate the number of days left in the year from a specific date.
The date is given in cell A2 in the table below. Now we need to figure out how many days are left in the year.
We can use the below function to find the number of days left in the year from the given date.
=DAYS(DATE(YEAR(A2),12,31),A2)
The syntax of the DAYS function is DAYS(end_date,start_date).
The first argument of the DAYS function is the end date. We have used the below formula to find the last date of the year of the given date.
=DATE(YEAR(A2),12,31)
The second argument of the DAYS function is the start date. We can simply select the date cell (Cell A2) for that.
Then, the function will return the difference between those two days. As the end date is the last date of the year, the function will return the number of days left in the year.
Also read: Calculate Days Between Two Dates in Excel (Workdays/Weekends)
Method 4 – Using the DATEDIF function to Get the Number of Days Left in the Year from a Specific Date
Excel’s DATEDIF function (undocumented function) also can be used to calculate the number of days left in the year from a specific date.
The date is given in cell A2 in the table below. Now we need to figure out how many days are left in the year.
We can use the below function to find the number of days left in the year from the given date.
=DATEDIF(A2,DATE(YEAR(A2),12,31),"D")
The syntax of the DATEDIF function is DATEDIF(start_date, end_date, unit).
It is important to know that this function is undocumented in Excel, such as EVALUATE, FILES, and GET.CELL. Unlike other functions, undocumented functions cannot be found in the function list and will not appear when you start typing the name of the function.
However, these functions still work in Excel (you just need to know the right syntax).
The first argument of the DATEDIF function is the start date. So, we can select cell A2 for that. The next argument is the end date. For that, we can use the DATE function.
We have used the below formula to find the last date of the year of the given date.
=DATE(YEAR(A2),12,31)
The syntax of the DATE function is DATE(year,month,date). So, we can get the year of the date by referring to the date cell (Cell A2).
Then, enter 12 and 31 for the month and date, respectively. 12 is the number to represent the last month of the year (December), and 31 is the number to represent the last date of the last month (31st).
The final argument of this function is “unit”. As we need the number of days between the selected days, we have to enter the letter D within double quotes. The letter D represents the days.
Also read: How to Add Days to a Date in Excel
Method 5 – Using the DAYS360 function to Calculate the Number of Days Left in the Year
Occasionally we need to know how many days are remaining in the year, assuming that each month has 30 days.
We are therefore assuming that a year has a maximum of 360 days.
Accounting-related computations frequently make that kind of assumption. In such cases, we can use Excel’s DAYS360 function to figure out the number of days left in the year.
The date is given in cell A2 in the table below. Now we need to figure out how many days are left in the year, assuming 360 days per year.
We can use the below function to find the number of days left in the year from the given date, assuming that only 30 days in each month (30 days ✕ 12 months = 360 days).
=DAYS360(A2,DATE(YEAR(A2),12,31))
The syntax of the DAYS360 function is DAYS360(start_date,end_date,[method]).
The first two arguments are required arguments, and the last argument is optional. We can select cell A2 as the start date.
We have used the below formula to find the last date of the year of the given date.
=DATE(YEAR(A2),12,31)
We can ignore the last argument of the DAYS360 function.
Also read: Convert Number of Days to Weeks in Excel
In this article, I have shown you five different methods for figuring out how many days are left in the year.
You can use the first method to calculate the number of days left from the current date.
You can use any one method from the second to fourth methods to calculate the exact number of days remaining in the year from a specific date.
And finally, if you want to find the number of days left in the year, assuming 360 days each year, you must use the last method.
I hope you found this article useful. Please let me know your thoughts in the comments section.
Other Excel articles you may also like:
- How to Convert Days to Years in Excel (Formulas)
- How to Convert Date to Day of Week in Excel?
- Count Days from a Date to Today in Excel
- How to Add Hours to Time in Excel?
- Convert Days to Months in Excel
- Using IF Function with Dates in Excel
- How to Calculate the Number of Months Between Two Dates in Excel?
