Convert Date to Number (or Number to Date) – Excel & Google Sheets

Download Example Workbook

Download the example workbook

This tutorial will demonstrate how to convert a date to a serial number corresponding to that date (or vis-a-versa) in Excel and Google Sheets

Date Number Main Function

Date to Number

To convert a date to a serial number, all you need to do is change the formatting to General:

date to number excel

However, this won’t work if the date is stored as text.

Date Stored as Text to Number

If the date is stored as text, you can use DATEVALUE convert it to an Excel date:

=DATEVALUE(B3)

DATEVALUE Function

Then you can change the formatting to general to see the serial number.

Number to Date

To convert a serial number to a date, all you need to do is the change the formatting from General (or Number) to a date format (ex. Short Date):

number to date excel

Convert Date to Number in Google Sheets

All of the above examples work exactly the same in Google Sheets as in Excel.

GOOGLE GIF