How to add working days to a date in Excel
Adding 5 to a date adds 5 calendar days, weekends included. WORKDAY adds working days instead, skipping Saturdays and Sundays.
Both WORKDAY and NETWORKDAYS can also skip a list of holidays, given as a third argument.
The formula
| A | B | |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Start | Working days |
| 2 | 2026-11-06 (Fri) | 5 |
=WORKDAY(A2,B2)Result: 2026-11-13 (Fri)
Five working days after Friday 6 November is Friday 13 November. Format the cell as a date to see it.
Step by step
- Type =WORKDAY( and click the start date.
- Add a comma and the number of working days.
- Close the bracket, press Enter, and format the cell as a date.
Common mistakes
- Seeing a number instead of a date
- The result is a date serial number. Format the cell as a date.
- Forgetting holidays
- Add a range of holiday dates as the third argument, or deadlines can land on a public holiday.
Reading isn’t the same as doing
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