Purpose of the WORKDAY Function
The WORKDAY function finds the start or end date of a project or assignment when given a set number of work days. The number of work days automatically excludes weekends and any dates that are identified as holidays. The WORKDAY function you use depends on the results you want, which may include one of the following:
Find the end date for a project with a set number of work days following a given start date.Find the start date for a project with a set number of work days before a given end date.Find the due date for an invoice.Find the expected delivery date for goods or materials.
WORKDAY Function’s Syntax (Layout)
A function’s syntax refers to the layout of the function and includes the function’s name, brackets, and arguments. The syntax for the WORKDAY function is: Start_date (required) is the start date of the chosen time period. The actual start date can be entered for this argument or the cell reference to the location of this data in the worksheet can be entered instead. Days (required) specifies the length of the project. This is an integer showing the number of days of work that will be performed on the project. For this argument, enter the number of days of work or the cell reference to the location of this data in the worksheet. Holidays (optional) specifies one or more additional dates that are not counted as part of the total number of working days. Use the cell references to the location of the data in the worksheet for this argument.
How to Use the WORKDAY Function to Find an End Date—or Due Date
This tutorial uses the WORKDAY function to find the end date for a project that begins July 9, 2012, and finishes 82 days later. Two holidays (September 3 and October 8) that occur during this period are not counted as part of the 82 days. To follow this tutorial, enter the following data into the indicated cells:
Create the WORKDAY Function
To create the WORKDAY function: The date 11/2/2012, the end date for the project, appears in cell E5 of the worksheet. When you select cell E5, the complete function appears in the formula bar above the worksheet. When using the WORKDAY formula in Google Sheets, go to Insert > Function > All > WORKDAY. Or, enter =WORKDAY( in cell E5. In Google Sheets, enter E1 after the first parentheses in cell E5. In Google Sheets, enter a comma and type E2 so that the formula looks like this: In Google Sheets, end the formula with a comma, then enter E3:E4. The formula looks like this:
Troubleshoot WORKDAY Function Errors
If the data for the various arguments of this function aren’t entered correctly, an error values appear in the cell where the WORKDAY function is located. You’ll see one of these errors:
#VALUE! appears in the answer cell if one of the WORKDAY arguments isn’t a valid date (if the date was entered as text, for example). #NUM! appears in the answer cell if an invalid date results from adding the Start_date and Days arguments. If the Days argument isn’t entered as an integer (such as 82.75 days), the number is truncated, rather than rounded up or down, to the integer portion of the number (for example, 82 days).
