Spreadsheet Practice

How to get the Monday of the week from a date in Excel

Formula (Excel and Google Sheets)

=A2-WEEKDAY(A2,3)

Subtract the days since Monday: =A2-WEEKDAY(A2,3). WEEKDAY with 3 counts Monday as 0.

Result on the example
one result per row in B2, filled down to B7
Works in
Every current version
Google Sheets
Same formula

See it work

The formula is already in B2, filled down to B7. Change any input and the result updates, or edit the formula to experiment.

How it works

WEEKDAY(A2,3) numbers the days from Monday = 0 to Sunday = 6, which is exactly how many days the date is past Monday. Subtracting it lands on that Monday; a Sunday belongs to the week that started six days earlier.

=A2-WEEKDAY(A2,3)

Result46083

  1. A23/4/2026

    The value in A2.

  2. WEEKDAY(A2,3)2

    WEEKDAY: Day of the week as a number; Sunday = 1 by default.

    • serial_numberA23/4/2026
    • return_type3
  3. A2-WEEKDAY(A2,3)46083

    The - operator subtracts.

In Google Sheets

The same formula works in Google Sheets: =A2-WEEKDAY(A2,3). 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
=A2-WEEKDAY(A2,2)+13/2/2026, 3/2/2026, 3/9/2026…The same result with the more familiar Monday = 1 numbering.
=A2-WEEKDAY(A2)+13/1/2026, 3/8/2026, 3/8/2026…Different resultFor weeks that start on Sunday. Returns the Sunday on or before the date.

Common mistakes

  • Plain WEEKDAY(A2) starts weeks on Sunday, which moves Sunday rows into the following week. Use the 2 or 3 argument for Monday weeks.
  • Google Sheets WEEKDAY accepts types 1, 2 and 3 only, so avoid Excel's 11 to 17 codes in shared files.

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.

Get the Monday of the week from a date

In B2, return the Monday of the week that each date falls in, and fill down to B7.

Questions

How do I label the week, like "Week of Mar 2"?

="Week of "&TEXT(A2-WEEKDAY(A2,3),"mmm d").

How do I total by week?

Add this as a helper column, then use SUMIFS or a pivot table on the week-start date.

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.