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

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

**Excel:** `=A2-WEEKDAY(A2,3)` (Every current version)

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

## Example

Sample data (row 1 is the header):

| A | B |
| --- | --- |
| Timesheet date | Week starting |
| 2026-03-04 |  |
| 2026-03-08 |  |
| 2026-03-09 |  |
| 2026-03-14 |  |
| 2026-03-31 |  |
| 2026-04-03 |  |

Formula in B2, filled to B7: `=A2-WEEKDAY(A2,3)`

Result: 3/2/2026; 3/2/2026; 3/9/2026; 3/9/2026; 3/30/2026; 3/30/2026

## 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.

## Other ways

- `=A2-WEEKDAY(A2,2)+1`: The same result with the more familiar Monday = 1 numbering.
- `=A2-WEEKDAY(A2)+1`: For 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.

## 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.

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/monday-of-the-week