Hot Tip to Quickly Enter Date and Time in Microsoft Excel

It is often very useful when creating an Excel worksheet to post the data somewhere on the worksheet. This is especially true if you have multiple versions of the same worksheet.

However, it takes time to format a cell and then type in the date.

Today we share with you a great keyboard shortcut that will allow you to enter the current day's date, or time, or BOTH in a spreadsheet as quick as can be.

Do remember that Excel always uses the current date and time from your computer, so make sure they are accurate.

How to Enter the Date in an Excel worksheet with a Keyboard Shortcut

Click on the cell in which you want the date to appear. Then press Ctrl + ;   (In other words, press and hold the Ctrl key while you press the colin or semicolon key). Presto!

How to Enter the Time in an Excel worksheet with a Keyboard Shortcut

To quickly get the time in a spreadsheet, click on the cell and press Ctrl + Shift + :   (Press and hold the Ctrl and Shift keys and then press the colon or semicolon key).

How to Enter the Date AND Time in the Same Worksheet Cell with Keyboard Shortcut

You can enter BOTH the date and time in one cell if you type the keyboard shortcut for the date first, press the space bar, and then type the keyboard shortcut for the time. This is real cool if you create a lot of spreadsheets!

For a list of the most popular keyboard shortcuts for Excel, please see our tutorial Microsoft Excel: Cool Keyboard Shortcuts.  Our main website has many other tutorials for Excel beginners, such as Excel Made Easy: A Beginner's Guide and more advanced tutorials, such as the ones that explain how to use Excel's most popular built-in functions. Don't miss our newest tutorial, Microsoft Office Version and Windows Version Compatibility Chart..

Cheers!

►  Take a look at some of our other interesting posts, such as How to Display Formulas in an Excel Worksheet