In Google Sheets, if you want to add a month or multiple months to date, the best way is the use the EDATE function. EDATE allows you to get a future date by specifying a date. In this tutorial, we will learn to write this formula.
Formula to Add Month to a Date
You can use the below steps to write this formula:
- Enter “=EDATE(“ in a cell.
- Refer to the cell with the date.
- Enter the number of months you want to add.
- Close the function and hit enter to get the result.
The moment you hit enter, it returns a new date, 30-Apr-2023.
As you can see, the original date is 30-Mar-2023, and in the result, we have a date that is exactly one month after it. So, therefore, in EDATE, there are two arguments to define, start_date and [month].
Now let’s say you have the date 31-Mar-2023 and want to have 1 month after it. So, for example, the month after March is April, but we don’t have 31 days in April.
In the above example, you have 31-Mar-2023 in the cell, and when you use the EDATE for adding a month, it returns 20-Apr-2023. This function is smart enough to understand that there is no 31st day in April.
Adding 6 Months to a Date
If you want to add 6 months to a date, use 6 in the [month] argument.
In the above example, you have 30-Sep-2023 in the result for 31-Mar-2023. September is exactly 6 months after March.
Adding 3 Months to a Date
And in the same way, you can add 3 months.
Subtract Months from a Date
The EDATE function also allows you to deduct the months from a date. In the below example, you have used (-2) in the function. And for 31-Mar-2023, we have got 31-Jan-2023.
