WEEKDAY and WORKDAY in Google Sheets - Step-by-Step Guide

Introduction

These two functions help you work with dates easily. WEEKDAY tells you the day number of the week for any date. WORKDAY helps you find a date after adding working days, skipping weekends and holidays.

When you want to know which day of the week a date falls on, like Monday or Friday.

When you need to calculate a deadline by adding only workdays, ignoring weekends.

When planning project schedules that skip weekends and holidays.

When you want to highlight weekends or weekdays in your calendar.

When tracking employee workdays or leave days excluding weekends.

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 typing =WEEKDAY( or =WORKDAY( to see function suggestions

Step 3: Enter

- a date cell or type a date inside the formula

The formula uses this date to calculate the result

Step 4: For WEEKDAY, optionally type a second argument for return type

- inside the formula after the date

The function returns the day number based on the chosen system

Step 5: For WORKDAY, type the number of workdays to add after the start date

- inside the formula after the start date

The function calculates the future workday date skipping weekends

Step 6: Optionally add a range of holiday dates as the last argument in WORKDAY

- inside the formula after the number of days

The function skips these holidays when calculating the workday

Step 7: Press Enter

- formula bar

The cell shows the weekday number or the calculated workday date

Before vs After

Before

Cell A1 has date 2024-06-10 (Monday). No formula applied.

After

Cell B1 with formula =WEEKDAY(A1) shows 2 (Monday as day 2). Cell C1 with formula =WORKDAY(A1,5) shows 2024-06-17 (Monday next week, skipping weekend).

Settings Reference

Return type (WEEKDAY)

📍 second argument in WEEKDAY formula

Choose how the days of the week are numbered

Default: 1

Holidays (WORKDAY)

📍 third argument in WORKDAY formula

Exclude specific dates from workday calculation

Default: No holidays

Common Mistakes

Using WORKDAY without specifying holidays but expecting holidays to be skipped.

WORKDAY only skips weekends by default, not holidays unless specified.

Add a holiday range as the third argument to skip holidays.

Using WEEKDAY without setting the return type and assuming Monday is 1.

Default return type counts Sunday as 1, so Monday is 2.

Set the second argument to 2 or 3 to start counting from Monday.

Entering dates as text strings without date format.

Functions may not recognize text as valid dates, causing errors.

Enter dates as proper date values or use DATE function.

Summary

WEEKDAY returns the day number of the week for a given date with customizable numbering.

WORKDAY calculates a future or past date by adding workdays, skipping weekends and optional holidays.

Remember to specify holidays in WORKDAY to exclude them and set return type in WEEKDAY for correct day numbering.