Add the current date to a cell

There are many situations where you may need to enter the current date in a cell. Although you can type it manually, this can become tedious if you have to enter the date frequently.

Luckily, there is a keyboard shortcut using a semicolon (;) to instantly add the current date, and another shortcut to add the current time.

Watch the video below to see examples of these shortcuts in action.

Steps

1. Open Excel and navigate to the worksheet you’re working on.
2. Click on the specific cell where you want to insert the date or time stamp.
3. To add the current date, press the keyboard shortcut Ctrl + ; on your keyboard. This will insert the current date in the selected cell.
4. To add the current time, press the keyboard shortcut Ctrl + Shift + ; and this will insert the current time in the selected cell.
5. Press Enter to move to the next line or cell. Repeat the process as needed to add more dates or time stamps.

Using these keyboard shortcuts can save you a lot of time and effort when adding this type of information to your Excel spreadsheets. Next up, we’ll show you a tip using the fill handle.

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