Spreadsheet Practice

How to get the start and end dates of last week in Excel

Formula (Excel and Google Sheets)

=A2-WEEKDAY(A2,3)-7

Go back to this week's Monday and 7 more days: =A2-WEEKDAY(A2,3)-7. Add 6 for last week's Sunday.

Result on the example
one result per row in B2, filled down to B6
Works in
Every current version
Google Sheets
Same formula

See it work

The formula is already in B2, filled down to B6. Change any input and the result updates, or edit the formula to experiment.

How it works

A2-WEEKDAY(A2,3) is the Monday of the current week, and 7 days earlier is the Monday of last week. The week ends 6 days after it, on Sunday, so =B2+6 gives the end date.

=A2-WEEKDAY(A2,3)-7

Result46314

  1. A210/29/2026

    The value in A2.

  2. WEEKDAY(A2,3)3

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

    • serial_numberA210/29/2026
    • return_type3
  3. A2-WEEKDAY(A2,3)46321

    The - operator subtracts.

  4. A2-WEEKDAY(A2,3)-746314

    The - operator subtracts.

In Google Sheets

The same formula works in Google Sheets: =A2-WEEKDAY(A2,3)-7. 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)-610/19/2026, 10/26/2026, 10/26/2026…The same with Monday = 1 numbering.
=A2-WEEKDAY(A2)-610/18/2026, 10/25/2026, 11/1/2026…Different resultFor Sunday-to-Saturday weeks: last week's Sunday. Returns a Sunday.

Common mistakes

  • Decide whether weeks start on Sunday or Monday, and use the matching WEEKDAY type everywhere.
  • On a Monday, "last week" is the full week that ended yesterday, not the past 7 days.

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 start and end dates of last week

In B2, return the Monday that starts the week before the report date (weeks run Monday to Sunday), and fill down to B6.

Questions

How do I get the end of last week?

=A2-WEEKDAY(A2,3)-1 returns last Sunday.

How do I total last week's sales?

=SUMIFS(amounts,dates,">="&B2,dates,"<="&B2+6).

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.