Convert Date to Number (or Number to Date) – Excel & Google Sheets
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Last updated on February 6, 2023
Download Example Workbook
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This tutorial will demonstrate how to convert a date to a serial number corresponding to that date (or vis-a-versa) in Excel and Google Sheets
Date to Number
To convert a date to a serial number, all you need to do is change the formatting to General:
However, this won’t work if the date is stored as text.
Date Stored as Text to Number
If the date is stored as text, you can use DATEVALUE convert it to an Excel date:
=DATEVALUE(B3)
Then you can change the formatting to general to see the serial number.
Number to Date
To convert a serial number to a date, all you need to do is the change the formatting from General (or Number) to a date format (ex. Short Date):
Convert Date to Number in Google Sheets
All of the above examples work exactly the same in Google Sheets as in Excel.
