A simple date addition ignores closures
A2+B2 counts calendar days. It does not use the supplied mask and closure dates.
Schedule dates with a working calendar
Read-only
Step-by-step guide · read-only ·
Loading your interactive spreadsheet…
Preparing the worksheet and formulas…
Data & tools
Task requirements
Fill C2:C5 with each date reached after the working-day offset in column B, starting from column A. Use the Monday-first text weekend mask in G2 and the closure dates in G4:G7. Do not count the starting date when moving; a zero offset returns that original date even when it is closed.
Follow the highlighted cells. Switch to Your turn to edit. Answer cells: C2, C3, C4, C5. Browser calculations may differ from your Excel version.
Selection & formula search
Practice stays on this device. No worksheet data is uploaded.
Notes & examples
About this lesson
Move forward or backward by working days, with a configurable weekend and a separate office-closure list.
THE QUICK ANSWER01
WORKDAY.INTL advances by eligible working dates. The weekday mask and closure list remain fixed as the start and offset move down each row.
ƒx
=WORKDAY.INTL(A2,B2,$G$2,$G$4:$G$7)For the example data
C2 2026-10-20C3 2026-10-17C4 2026-10-16C5 2026-10-21
The formula uses the interactive worksheet above. Adjust ranges and criteria for your own data.
How it works
Calendar days and working days answer different questions
Adding 1 to a date always advances one calendar day. Advancing one working day can skip several closed dates. The starting date is excluded for a nonzero offset.
The supported practice inputs are explicit
Use whole numeric date serials from 2000-01-01 through 2099-12-31, whole offsets from -366 through 366, a seven-character text mask with at least one working weekday, and up to four whole numeric closure dates or blank cells. Text dates, time fractions and booleans remain ungraded.
Read the full step-by-step walkthrough
- Choose the starting date
Column A holds numeric dates displayed as dates, not date strings. A start on a closed day is allowed.
- Keep the direction and zero rule
Positive offsets move forward and negative offsets move backward. A zero offset returns the start unchanged; it is not a request to find the next open date.
- Read the week from Monday
G2 is seven text characters: 0 means working and 1 means closed, starting with Monday. 0000110 closes Friday and Saturday.
- Exclude office closures once
Dates in G4:G7 close otherwise eligible days. A repeated closure or one already on a weekend does not close an extra day. These are invented office closures, not a national calendar.
- Fill and test different calendars
Fill C2 down through C5. Both calendar references stay absolute; the source row moves. Then compare the alternative weekday patterns and leap-year cases.
Things to watch
The calendar drifts while filling
Keep the mask and holiday range absolute. Only the start-date and offset rows should move.
Zero unexpectedly moves to Monday
A zero working-day offset preserves its starting date, including a weekend or closure.
About this example
Formula entry, filling, all authored datasets, walkthrough controls and original/current/frozen downloads were checked in Chrome on October 17, 2026. Native Mac Excel also calculated all 24 answers across the six supplied datasets from an uncached workbook copy. Native source editing and save/reopen compatibility, and Google Sheets recalculation, remain unverified. Dates are numeric Excel 1900-system serials; closures are invented office-calendar examples.
Content version 1. Practice checks compare calculated results across different datasets; they do not certify every possible formula.