Weekly Computer Tip # 324
11 December 2010


Countdown to Christmas
(Excel 2003-2007)

Fourteen sleeps to go until Christmas and I am well aware that by this time next week I would get hundreds of out of office messages so this will be the last tip for 2010. It's an oldie (tip 39 to be precise) but a goodie if you want to create a countdown to a particular date such as a holiday, anniversary, birthday, wedding, retirement, completion of house ... or Christmas!

Here's how:

  1. Enter the date of the event (say, 25/12/03) in, say, cell A1
  2. Select cell B1 and type =TODAY()
  3. Select the cell in which the countdown result is to appear (say, C1) and type =A1-B1
  4. If necessary, right-click over cell C1, select Format Cells and choose General (from the Number tab)

If you save the file as normal you can check every day how many days are left between now and Santa's arrival. (See Xmascountdown.xls for an example.)

That's it for this year. Thank you for being supporters of my weekly tip. Have a great Xmas and look forward to helping you next year.

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