Datedif Function Excel For Mac 2016
As it turns out, the function exists, as with many other Excel features, purely for compatibility with Lotus Notes 123 – a long since discontinued spreadsheet program. Given there’s no direct alternative for DATEDIF, it’s not clear why this isn’t a fully implemented function, but it exists, and you can use it with most versions on Excel. It has been officially recognised and introduced by Microsoft in Excel 2016 and is present in Help also. It doesn't appear in Insert Function list though. Hence, it doesn't pop up the syntax of DATEDIF if DATEDIF is written. OP needs to write the complete syntax of DATEDIF to make this workable.
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To measure a timeline for an activity we calculate the difference between two dates in terms of days, weeks, months and years. But how can we calculate the difference between two dates in months in Excel? There are different formulas to get months between two dates in Excel.
Figure 1. Calculating Months Between Two Dates
Using the Excel DATEDIF Formula
The Excel DATEDIF function calculates the difference between two dates based on the interval specified like days, months, years. Using this function we can return the number of complete months between two dates as per the following syntax;
=DATEDIF( start_date, end_date, “M”)
The DATEDIF function rounds down the values by default and returns the complete number of months between dates. In our example, we can get months between two dates listed in column B and C as start date and end date values. We need to use the following formula in cell E2 and drag the fill handle down;
=DATEDIF(B2,C2,'M')
Figure 2. Using the DATEDIF Function to Calculate Months Between Two Dates
Using the YEAR and MONTH Formula
We can calculate months between two dates in Excel using the YEAR and MONTH functions in a formula as per the following syntax;
=(YEAR(end_date)-YEAR(start_date))*12+MONTH(end_date)-MONTH(start_date)
This formula compares two given dates and calculates months between two dates either as a positive or negative number. We will apply this formula in cell F2 and copy the formula down, such as;Toyota fortuner 2017 owners manual.

=(YEAR(C2)-YEAR(B2))*12+MONTH(C2)-MONTH(B2)
Figure 3. Using the YEAR and MONTH Formula to Calculate Months Between Dates
Notice that the result of this formula is not always similar to the DATEDIF function. Because, the DATEDIF function returns the number of complete months elapsed between dates, and this formula works on the months’ numbers that belong to different dates. Like in row 6, the DATEDIF function returns 3 months and the YEAR/MONTH formula returns 4 because the dates belong to two different months.
Datedif Function Excel For Mac 2016 Product
Figure 4. The Difference Between DATEDIF and YEAR/MONTH Formulas
Using the YEARFRAC Formula

The Excel YEARFRAC function returns the year fraction representing the number of whole days between two dates. Using this function we can return the number of fractional months or absolute months between two dates as per the following syntax;
=YEARFRAC( start_date, end_date) * 12
In this example, we will use the following formula in cell G2 to get fractional months between two dates and copy it down to below cells; Organic experiments 9th edition kenneth l williamson pdf editor.
=YEARFRAC(B2,C2)*12
Figure 5. Using the YEARFRAC Formula to Calculate Months Between Dates
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Calculate your age, WITHOUT using Excel’s DateDif function.
How To Get Datedif Function In Excel
My previous post on using Excel’s DATEDIF function resulted in rather productive discussions on LinkedIn. First of all, some users are concerned that the DATEDIF function will no longer be supported in Excel and will cease to exist at some point in the future. Microsoft openly states that “this function is provided for compatibility with Lotus 1-2-3.” , and given the history of this support, I don’t see why it will be discontinued. Nonetheless, I will make an attempt to replace DATEDIF function with other functions readily available in the program. Secondly, as a reminder that English is not the only language in the world, Microsoft created “local” versions of this function. A user confirmed existence of the SIFECHA function, but the syntax to use it, involves using semicolons, instead of commas. If you are using Spanish version of Excel, you might want to try both versions:
According to this site , remaining versions of this function include:
In this post I will use two different methods of calculating date differences. The first method involves simple math calculations, and number formatting options (INT, ROUNDUP), the second uses Excel’s DATE functions: DATE, YEAR, MONTH, and DAY. As a disclaimer, while I performed some rudimentary quality assurance, I am not certain that either of these methods is as accurate as the DATEDIF function for figuring out your age in years, months, and days. In fact, depending on the dates involved, one or another will be more accurate. As an example, the actual birth date in a different year, will be inaccurate in some instances of using the math approach. While certain rounding errors will inadvertently affect calculations in both methods, calculations in Years ONLY, Months ONLY, or Days ONLY seem to be accurate.
Method 1 : Using simple math.
We know that for any given consecutive 4 years, three of them will have 365 days, while one (leap year) will be 366 days long. As a result the average number of days in a year is 365.25, (1,461/4.) The next step is to calculate number of days in a month. The answer is 30.4375 (365.25/12.) Since we are interested in complete years/months/days, we would like to round DOWN our result to the nearest integer. There is an Excel function for that, it’s called: INT
Armed with this knowledge, let’s perform our simple calculations, assuming that cell B1 still has the first Windows release of Microsoft Office on 6-October-1987 , while cell B2 holds today’s date:
To calculate number of days passed, we can simply subtract earlier date from the later date, and wrapping the result within the INT function, we will have:
To calculate number of months passed, we can simply subtract earlier date from the later date, and divide the result by 30.4375 (number of days in a month):
To calculate number of years passed, we can simply subtract earlier date from the later date, and divide the result by 365.25 (number of days in a year):
The next step is to calculate age in years, months, and days. To simplify this task, let’s perform these calculations separately, and then combine (concatenate) our results:
Formula for number of years stays the same, but we need to suppress printing results when number of years is 0:
To calculate number of months, let’s introduce MOD function first. This function calculates the remainder “after a number is divided by a divisor.” In other words, after figuring out number of complete years, we need to divide the remainder by 30.4375. Let’s not forget to suppress printing the result, when number of months is 0:
Finally, to calculate number of days, we need the remainder of divisions by 365.25 AND then 30.4375. During my testing, I decided to also use ROUNDUP function, which is the opposite of INT, as well as the ABS function (absolute value):
The resulting formula now becomes:
Method 2 : Using Excel’s date functions (DATE, YEAR, MONTH, and DAY.)
Formula for calculating number of days stays the same as in the previous method.
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Before calculating number of months passed, let’s accommodate different month dates and subtract 1, as needed. Function DAY returns day of the month. Function YEAR returns year of the date, and function MONTH yields month of the date. The formula requires us to calculate difference between years involved, calculate the result by 12 (12 months in a year,) and then add a difference between months involved:
To calculate number of years, let’s introduce the final function for this post: DATE, which returns numeric equivalent of any date passed. We need to subtract 1 in certain scenarios:
Excel Datedif Function Not Available
It would probably be easier for you to download my sample file , but in case you are interested in seeing the final formula for this method for calculating one’s age in years, months, and days, here it is: