# How to find the earliest date in a list in Excel

Use `=MIN(B2:B9)`. The earliest date is the smallest number; MIN skips blanks and text.

**Excel:** `=MIN(B2:B9)` (Excel 2019 and later, including Microsoft 365)

**Google Sheets:** the same formula works.

## Example

Sample data (row 1 is the header):

| A | B | C | D |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Shipment | Ship date |  | Earliest |
| SH-1 | 2026-04-17 |  |  |
| SH-2 | 2026-03-08 |  |  |
| SH-3 |  |  |  |
| SH-4 | 2026-05-01 |  |  |
| SH-5 | TBD |  |  |
| SH-6 | 2026-03-22 |  |  |
| SH-7 | 2026-04-02 |  |  |
| SH-8 | 2026-03-15 |  |  |

Formula in E1: `=MIN(B2:B9)`

Result: 3/8/2026

## How it works

Dates are numbers, so the earliest date is the smallest one and MIN finds it. MIN skips the blank cell and the text "TBD", so they don't turn into 0.

## Other ways

- `=SMALL(B2:B9,1)`: The same; change 1 to 2 for the second earliest.
- `=MINIFS(B2:B9,B2:B9,">="&DATE(2026,4,1))`: The earliest date from April on: add a condition with MINIFS. (Earliest date on or after April 1.)

## Common mistakes

- If no cell holds a date, MIN returns 0, shown as 1/0/1900. Wrap it: `=IF(COUNT(B2:B9),MIN(B2:B9),"")`.
- Dates stored as text are skipped. If the result looks too late, check for left-aligned dates.

## Questions

**How do I find the latest date?**

`=MAX(B2:B9)`.

**How do I return the shipment with the earliest date?**

`=XLOOKUP(MIN(B2:B9),B2:B9,A2:A9)`.

Every formula and result on this page was checked by running it in the Spreadsheet Practice formula engine on 2026-10-30.

Source: https://spreadsheetpractice.com/formulas/find-the-earliest-date-in-a-list