How to use EDATE Function in Excel

EDATE is a date and time function in excel which adds a given number of months into a date and gives us a date in a numerical format of date, the arguments this function takes is date and integers, date as the start date to begin with and number of months are integers to add it to the given start date, the output returned by this function is also a date value, the method to use this function is =Edate( Start Date, Months).

Syntax: =EDATE (start_date, months)

The EDATE function syntax has the following arguments:

  • Months    Required. The number of months before or after start_date. A positive value for months yields a future date; a negative value yields a past date.

Example: Let’s look at some Excel EDATE function examples and explore how to use the EDATE function as a worksheet function in Microsoft Excel:

EDATE Function - How to use EDATE Function in Excel

Syntax:  =EDATE(A2,B2)


EDATE Function in Excel - How to use EDATE Function in Excel

Based on the Excel spreadsheet above, the following EDATE examples would return:

Syntax: =EDATE(A3,B3)
Result: 15/04/2016

Syntax: =EDATE(A4,B4)
Result: 04/06/2016

Syntax: =EDATE(A5,B5)
Result: 20/05/2016

Syntax: =EDATE(A6,B6)
Result: 01/01/2018

Syntax: =EDATE(A7,B7)
Result: 01/12/2017

Syntax: =EDATE(A8,B8)
Result: 30/03/2016

Syntax: =EDATE(A9,B9)
Result: 30/03/2017

Syntax: =EDATE(A10,B10)
Result: 30/04/2019

Syntax: =EDATE(A11,B11)
Result: 15/02/2020

Syntax: =EDATE(A12,B12)
Result: 15/11/2019


  1. #NUM! error – Occurs when the date resulting from the calculation is not a valid date.
  2. #VALUE error – Occurs if:
    1. The supplied start_date is not a valid Excel date; or
    2. Any of the supplied arguments are non-numeric.
  3. If we provide a decimal value for months, the EOMONTH function will only add the integer portion to start_date.
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