Please Note: This article is written for users of the following Microsoft Excel versions: 2007, 2010, and 2013. 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: Putting a Different Date in a Header.
Adding the current date to the header of a worksheet is easy—Excel provides a dialog box where you can specify the placement of the date and use the '&[date]' coding to actually insert the date. But what if you want to insert yesterday's date or tomorrow's date into the header?
That's not nearly as easy. In fact, you can't do it without using a macro. Perhaps the most flexible approach is to write the macro so that it updates the date just before the worksheet is printed, as shown in the following:
Please Note:
This article is written for users of the following Microsoft Excel versions: 2007, 2010, and 2013. 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: 
Private Sub Workbook_BeforePrint(Cancel As Boolean)
ActiveSheet.PageSetup.CenterHeader = _
Format(Date - 1, "mmmm d, yyyy")
End Sub
The macro places yesterday's date into the center of the header; you can easily change the CenterHeader property of one of the other available header locations (LeftHeader or RightHeader). You can also change the macro to insert tomorrow's date by changing the "- 1" to "+ 1".
ExcelTips is your source for cost-effective Microsoft Excel training. This tip (10678) applies to Microsoft Excel 2007, 2010, and 2013. You can find a version of this tip for the older menu interface of Excel here: Putting a Different Date in a Header.
Professional Development Guidance! Four world-class developers offer start-to-finish guidance for building powerful, robust, and secure applications with Excel. The authors show how to consistently make the right design decisions and make the most of Excel's powerful features. Check out Professional Excel Development today!
Add an ampersand to the text in a header or footer and you may be surprised that the ampersand disappears on your ...
Discover MoreReferencing information between cells in a worksheet is a piece of cake using some elemental formulas. You cannot, ...
Discover MoreWhen printing out a worksheet, you may want Excel to include, in the footer, the date the data was last saved. There is ...
Discover MoreFREE SERVICE: Get tips like this every week in ExcelTips, a free productivity newsletter. Enter your address and click "Subscribe."
2017-07-06 17:20:27
Jacob I
Using Excel 2010 here, and I'm new at creating macros. There are some issues that I've had implementing this article and I've numbered them below. Please offer advice on these points.
1) the above code snippet does not use apostrophes for any arguments
2) No instructions are given on how to record this code as a macro
3) This article is precisely the same as the article for earlier versions of Excel, with the exception of the note stating what versions the article is for. Substantially, they are the same.
2015-10-10 11:19:15
Willy Vanhaelen
@Jared,
- type your text before &[Date]
- hightight the whole thing
- select the Home tab
- select the formatting you want
2015-10-08 09:51:28
Jared
I am trying to insert text prior to the date. Furthermore, would like to make it all 14pt bold text? Could you show me what I am missing?
Thanks!
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.
FREE SERVICE: Get tips like this every week in ExcelTips, a free productivity newsletter. Enter your address and click "Subscribe."
Copyright © 2019 Sharon Parq Associates, Inc.
Comments