Please Note: This article is written for users of the following Microsoft Excel versions: 2007, 2010, 2013, 2016, 2019, and Excel in Microsoft 365. If you are using an earlier version (Excel 2003 or earlier), this tip may not work for you. For a version of this tip written specifically for earlier versions of Excel, click here: Calculating Weekend Dates.

Calculating Weekend Dates

Written by Allen Wyatt (last updated October 5, 2019)
This tip applies to Excel 2007, 2010, 2013, 2016, 2019, and Excel in Microsoft 365


Reuben needs to know, for any given date, when the next weekend is. For his purposes, weekends begin on Saturday, so this basically means coming up with a way to "round up" a date (Sunday through Friday) to the next Saturday.

There are any number of ways that you can calculate the date of the next Saturday. This is made possible because dates are stored internally by Excel as numbers, and numbers can be easily manipulated. Perhaps the easiest way to calculate the next Saturday is this formula:

=A1+7-WEEKDAY(A1)

You can also use a very simple application of the CEILING function, as shown here:

=CEILING(A1,7)

Remember that when you use a formulaic approach, Excel may not automatically format the result to look like a date. That's easy enough to fix; just apply the cell formatting you want.

These two formulas will return the date of the next Saturday, unless the date in A1 is already a Saturday. If you want a starting date of Saturday to return the date of the following Saturday, then this formula will work just fine:

= IF(WEEKDAY(A1)=7,7,7-WEEKDAY(A1))+A1

An alternate formula (that doesn't use the IF statement) to calculate the next Saturday if the starting date in A1 is already a Saturday is:

=(A1+7+1)-WEEKDAY(A1+1)

ExcelTips is your source for cost-effective Microsoft Excel training. This tip (9305) applies to Microsoft Excel 2007, 2010, 2013, 2016, 2019, and Excel in Microsoft 365. You can find a version of this tip for the older menu interface of Excel here: Calculating Weekend Dates.

Author Bio

Allen Wyatt

With more than 50 non-fiction books and numerous magazine articles to his credit, Allen Wyatt is an internationally recognized author. He is president of Sharon Parq Associates, a computer and publishing services company. ...

MORE FROM ALLEN

Hiding Individual Cells

Hiding information in one or more cells can be a challenge. This tip presents several different techniques that can help ...

Discover More

Finding the Path to the Desktop

Figuring out where Windows places certain items (such as the user's desktop) can be a bit frustrating. Fortunately, there ...

Discover More

Telling which Worksheets are Selected

If your macro processes information on a number of worksheets, chances are good that you need your macro to figure out ...

Discover More

Program Successfully in Excel! John Walkenbach's name is synonymous with excellence in deciphering complex technical topics. With this comprehensive guide, "Mr. Spreadsheet" shows how to maximize your Excel experience using professional spreadsheet application development tips from his own personal bookshelf. Check out Excel 2013 Power Programming with VBA today!

More ExcelTips (ribbon)

Calculating the Last Day in a Week Number

Given a particular week number for a year, you may want to figure out the date of the last day in that week. There is no ...

Discover More

Calculating Averages by Date

When you have a huge amount of daily data to analyze, you may want to calculate an average of values for any given date ...

Discover More

Entering Dates without Separators

When doing data entry into a worksheet, you might want to enter dates without the need to type the separators that are ...

Discover More
Subscribe

FREE SERVICE: Get tips like this every week in ExcelTips, a free productivity newsletter. Enter your address and click "Subscribe."

View most recent newsletter.

Comments

If you would like to add an image to your comment (not an avatar, but an image to help in making the point of your comment), include the characters [{fig}] (all 7 characters, in the sequence shown) in your comment text. You’ll be prompted to upload your image when you submit the comment. Maximum image size is 6Mpixels. Images larger than 600px wide or 1000px tall will be reduced. Up to three images may be included in a comment. All images are subject to review. Commenting privileges may be curtailed if inappropriate images are posted.

What is 6 - 0?

There are currently no comments for this tip. (Be the first to leave your comment—just use the simple form above!)


This Site

Got a version of Excel that uses the ribbon interface (Excel 2007 or later)? This site is for you! If you use an earlier version of Excel, visit our ExcelTips site focusing on the menu interface.

Newest Tips
Subscribe

FREE SERVICE: Get tips like this every week in ExcelTips, a free productivity newsletter. Enter your address and click "Subscribe."

(Your e-mail address is not shared with anyone, ever.)

View the most recent newsletter.