How to add only the working days to a date (excluding the weekend)? The WORKDAY Excel function solves this problem.
A common error when adding days
When you create a work schedule, you often need to skip the weekend. So, you cannot write your formula like this ⛔⛔⛔
Let's analyze the result:
- The first result shows Monday instead of Wednesday. ☹️
- This happens because, when you add 3 days to Friday, Excel includes Saturday and Sunday.
- The next dates fall on Saturday and Sunday. That’s incorrect! 😡
To make your date easier to understand, add the day and month names.
How to exclude the weekends?
To skip weekends in your calculation, use the WORKDAY function.
Follow these steps:
- Your date: Write your start date as the first argument.
- Number of days to add: Enter how many days to add. The function automatically skips weekends.
- [Optional] Holidays: Add any dates to exclude, like July 4th or Christmas Day.
In our example, use this formula to add days and excluding weekends:
=WORKDAY(B2,C2)
Exclude the holidays
You can also skip holidays. In the example below, holiday dates are in column G. Use the WORKDAY function like this to include these dates:
Arabic week
- The WORKDAY function considers Saturday and Sunday as the weekend.
- In some Arabic countries, the weekend is Thursday and Friday.
- It is important to use the correct weekend days in these cases.
- Use WORKDAY.INTL to customize weekend days.
The first two arguments are the same as WORKDAY. The third argument lets you set custom weekends. Use option 6 for Thursday and Friday weekends.
