EDATE and EOMONTH in Google Sheets - Step-by-Step Guide

Introduction

EDATE and EOMONTH are formulas that help you work with dates easily. They let you find a date a certain number of months before or after a given date, or find the last day of a month. This is useful when you want to calculate due dates, expiration dates, or monthly reports.

When you want to find a date exactly 3 months after a start date, like a subscription renewal date.

When you need to know the last day of the current month for billing or reporting.

When calculating expiration dates that are a fixed number of months from a purchase date.

When preparing monthly financial summaries and you want to find month-end dates automatically.

When scheduling follow-up appointments exactly a few months after an initial visit.

Steps

Step 1: Click

- a blank cell where you want the result

The cell is selected and ready for input

Step 2: Type

- the formula bar

The formula appears in the cell as you type

💡 Start with =EDATE or =EOMONTH to use these functions

Step 3: Enter

- the formula =EDATE(start_date, months)

The cell shows the date that is the given number of months before or after the start_date

💡 For example, =EDATE(A1, 3) gives the date 3 months after the date in A1

Step 4: Enter

- the formula =EOMONTH(start_date, months)

The cell shows the last day of the month that is the given number of months before or after the start_date

💡 For example, =EOMONTH(A1, 0) gives the last day of the month of the date in A1

Step 5: Press

- Enter key

The formula calculates and displays the correct date in the cell

Before vs After

Before

Cell A1 contains the date 2024-06-15

After

Using =EDATE(A1, 3) in cell B1 shows 2024-09-15, which is 3 months after June 15, 2024

Settings Reference

start_date

📍 Formula argument

The date from which to calculate the new date

Default: No default, must be provided

months

📍 Formula argument

Number of months to add or subtract from start_date

Default: No default, must be provided

Common Mistakes

Entering months as text with quotes, like "3"

The formula expects a number, not text, so it will give an error or wrong result

Enter months as a number without quotes, like 3 or -2

Using EOMONTH with a date that is not recognized as a date

If the start_date is text not formatted as a date, the formula will not work correctly

Make sure the start_date cell is formatted as a date or use the DATE function to create a date

Summary

EDATE calculates a date a set number of months before or after a given date.

EOMONTH finds the last day of a month a set number of months before or after a given date.

Always enter months as numbers and ensure start_date is a valid date for correct results.