How to Use DATE Function in Excel (Video in Khmer)

Hello everyone! Today I show you very easy step-by-step how to use DATE() function in Microsoft Excel.

DATE function help you build a real Excel date value from 3 separate numbers: year, month, and day. Very useful when your year, month, day are in separate cells and you want to combine them into one proper date!

📚 Related Tutorial: Want to extract day, month, year from a date? Check out How to Use DAY, MONTH, and YEAR Functions in Excel!

🛠️ How DATE Function Work?

The DATE function take 3 numbers and combine them into one real Excel date.

Formula Syntax:

=DATE(year, month, day)

📺 Example #1: Build a Date from Numbers

If you want to create the date September 15, 2026:

=DATE(2026, 9, 15)

• Result: 2026-09-15 (or 9/15/2026 depending on your Excel date format)

📺 Example #2: Build a Date from Separate Cells

If your data has:

• Cell A2 = Year → 2026
• Cell B2 = Month → 9
• Cell C2 = Day → 15

=DATE(A2, B2, C2)

• Result: 2026-09-15

This is very useful when you import data from other system and year, month, day come in separate columns!

📺 Example #3: Add Months or Days to a Date

Use DATE to calculate future or past dates easily:

Add 3 months to a date in cell A2:

=DATE(YEAR(A2), MONTH(A2) + 3, DAY(A2))

• If A2 = 2026-09-15, result = 2026-12-15 (3 months later)

Add 30 days to today:

=TODAY() + 30

• Simpler way! Just add number to TODAY() for days calculation.

💡 Easy Pro Tips for DATE Function

1. Month Overflow Is OK: If you enter MONTH = 13, Excel automatic move to next year January. =DATE(2026, 13, 1) gives 2027-01-01. Very useful for month calculation!
2. Combine with DATEDIF: Want to calculate age or days between two dates?

   =DATEDIF(DATE(2000, 5, 20), TODAY(), "Y")
   

   This calculate how many full years old from birth date May 20, 2000!
3. Fix Text Date: If your date is stored as text like "20260915", use DATE with LEFT, MID, RIGHT to convert:

   =DATE(LEFT(A2,4), MID(A2,5,2), RIGHT(A2,2))