Confusion between NOW and TODAY


Posted by Shakara on February 23, 2001 7:02 AM

In a checkbook formula, I was instructed to subtract the date of checks from the current date
(current date formatted with =TODAY() function) to get the number of days the checkbook was in use - or number of days since checkbook was started.

In another exercise an Invoice date was formatted with the =NOW() function. I then had to determine the number of days since the invoice was issued by using the =TODAY() formula minus the original invoice date.

These problems are very similar. Is there a rule of thumb to determine HOW and WHEN to use NOW and TODAY formulas? It's very confusing.



Posted by Dave Hawley on February 23, 2001 7:08 AM

Hi Shakara

NOW() will return the current date and time.
TODAY() will return the current date only.

If you are working with dates and all you need is the numbers of days bewteen 2 dates the TODAY() is what you need.

If you wanted to find out the hours or less you would use NOW()

Dave

OzGrid Business Applications