Returns the serial number of the current date and time. If the cell format was General before the function was entered, Excel changes the cell format so that it matches the date and time format of your regional settings. You can change the date and time format for the cell by using the commands in the Number group of the Home tab on the Ribbon.
The NOW function is useful when you need to display the current date and time on a worksheet or calculate a value based on the current date and time, updated continuously when a worksheet is changed or opened. The NOW function takes no arguments.
Syntax
The syntax for the NOW function in Microsoft Excel is:
=NOW()
Parameters or Arguments
There are no parameters or arguments for the NOW function.
Now Function Examples
Example 1
The following example shows a simple use of the NOW function, run at 0840 hrs on 8th August 2015
Formula:
Result:
Example 2
The following example shows use of the NOW function, combined with the If function, to highlight when an appointment is due.
The function format is shown in the top spreadsheet and the results, at 2 different times, are shown in the two spreadsheets below.
Formula:
Result at 1600 hrs on 1st Aug 2017:
Result at 1700 hrs on 1st Aug 2017:
In the above example, the current time (returned by the NOW function) is subtracted from the appointment time and the result is compared against the value 1/24, which is the value of 1 hour in Excel (see the page on Excel Dates & Times for an explanation of this).
If the current time is less than 1 hour from the appointment time, the alert is displayed; otherwise the text “Not yet due” is displayed in cell C1.
The contents of cell C1 have been formatted to have red text, to make the alert stand out more.
Note that the above appointment alert will only work if your spreadsheet is being continually updated. While the spreadsheet is unused, the contents of cell C1 will stay the same as at the last evaluation.
If you need a static time that won’t change, you can enter the current time using the keyboard shortcut Ctrl + Shift + :