Spreadsheet Practice

How to check if a date is later than another date in Excel

Formula (Excel and Google Sheets)

=IF(C2="","Open",IF(C2>B2,"Late","On time"))

Compare the dates directly: =IF(C2="","Open",IF(C2>B2,"Late","On time")). A later date is a larger number.

Result on the example
one result per row in D2, filled down to D7
Works in
Excel 2019 and later, including Microsoft 365
Google Sheets
Same formula

See it work

The formula is already in D2, filled down to D7. Change any input and the result updates, or edit the formula to experiment.

How it works

Dates are numbers, so a later date is a larger number and C2>B2 is TRUE when the order arrived after the promised date. The blank test comes first, because an empty cell counts as 0 and would look early.

=IF(C2="","Open",IF(C2>B2,"Late","On time"))

Result"On time"

  1. C26/4/2026

    The value in C2.

  2. C2=""FALSE

    The = operator tests whether the two sides are equal.

  3. B26/5/2026

    The value in B2.

  4. C2>B2FALSE

    The > operator tests greater than.

  5. IF(C2>B2,"Late","On time")"On time"

    IF: Returns one value if a test is true, another if false.

    • logical_testC2>B2FALSE
    • value_if_true"Late"not used
    • value_if_false"On time"
  6. IF(C2="","Open",IF(C2>B2,"Late","On time"))"On time"

    IF: Returns one value if a test is true, another if false.

    • logical_testC2=""FALSE
    • value_if_true"Open"not used
    • value_if_falseIF(C2>B2,"Late","On time")"On time"

In Google Sheets

The same formula works in Google Sheets: =IF(C2="","Open",IF(C2>B2,"Late","On time")). 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
=IFS(C2="","Open",C2>B2,"Late",TRUE,"On time")On time, Late, On time…The same with IFS.
=IF(C2>B2,"Late","On time")On time, Late, On time…Different resultWithout the blank check. SO-304, not yet delivered, shows On time.

Common mistakes

  • Text dates break the comparison: Excel ranks any text above any number, so a text date always looks later.
  • A delivery timestamp at 3:00 PM on the promised day is larger than the plain date. Compare INT(C2)>B2.

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.

Check if a date is later than another date

In D2, show "Late" if the delivery date is after the promised date, "On time" if not, and "Open" if there is no delivery date yet. Fill down to D7.

Questions

How many days late was it?

=MAX(0,C2-B2).

How do I calculate the on-time rate?

=COUNTIF(D2:D7,"On time")/COUNTIF(D2:D7,"<>Open").

Checked by running on 2026-10-30: every formula and result on this page was calculated by the Spreadsheet Practice formula engine, in both Excel and Google Sheets modes.