Spreadsheet Practice

How to add months to a date in Excel

Formula (Excel and Google Sheets)

=EDATE(B2,C2)

Use =EDATE(start_date, months). It moves the date by whole months and handles month ends correctly.

Result on the example
one result per row in D2, filled down to D5
Works in
Every current version
Google Sheets
Same formula

See it work

The formula is already in D2, filled down to D5. Change any input and the result updates, or edit the formula to experiment.

How it works

EDATE adds whole calendar months. When the day doesn't exist in the target month it uses the last day instead: January 31 plus one month is February 28. Use a negative number to go back in time.

=EDATE(B2,C2)

Result1/15/2027 (46402)

  1. B21/15/2026

    The value in B2.

  2. C212

    The value in C2.

  3. EDATE(B2,C2)1/15/2027 (46402)

    EDATE: Date a number of months before or after.

    • start_dateB21/15/2026
    • monthsC212

In Google Sheets

The same formula works in Google Sheets: =EDATE(B2,C2). We ran it in Google Sheets mode on the same data and it returns the same results.

Other ways to do it

Each one was run on the same example sheet.

FormulaResultWhen to use it
=DATE(YEAR(B2),MONTH(B2)+C2,DAY(B2))1/15/2027, 3/3/2026, 9/10/2026…Different resultBuilds the date from parts. It rolls over instead of stopping at the month end: January 31 + 1 month becomes March 3. Rolls into the next month when the day doesn't exist.

Common mistakes

  • Adding 30 days is not adding a month: months have 28 to 31 days.
  • The result is a date serial. If it shows as a number like 46402, apply a date format.

Try it yourself

Same data, empty answer cell. Your formula is graded instantly, then re-checked on changed data, so a typed-in number won't pass.

Add months to a date

In D2, add the number of months in column C to the start date, and fill down to D5.

Questions

How do I add years to a date?

Multiply by 12: =EDATE(B2,12*3) adds three years.

How do I subtract months?

Use a negative number: =EDATE(B2,-3).

Checked by running on 2026-10-29: every formula and result on this page was calculated by the Spreadsheet Practice formula engine, in both Excel and Google Sheets modes.