How to Use the EDATE Function in Microsoft Excel
The EDATE function in Microsoft Excel calculates a date after adding or subtracting a specified number of months to a given date. For example if you want to know the date 13 months from today, you could use the EDATE function to find that. The function relies on two arguments:
start_date: This is the date on which you want the return date based.month: This is the number of months you want to add or subtract from the start_date.
The syntax for the EDATE function is: In this formula, the date is the location of the date in Excel, and the month is the number of months you want to add or subtract. Using the example above, then, the function might look like this: (Assuming that the date for today is 10/18/2020) There are a few caveats to how this works, however, so follow these step-by-step instructions:
Uses of the EDATE Function
Most often, the EDATE function, which is categorized under Excel’s DATE/TIME Functions, is used in accounts payable or accounts receivable functions to calculate the maturity dates for accounts. However, you can also use this function when determining counts by month, or even just to figure out what a date might be X number of months from a give date or X number of months before a given date. This tells Excel that you want to add 13 months to the date in cell A2. The EDATE function may also be used with other functions.
