When Google Sheets first came out, it was a promising tool, but not one that you would choose over the efficiency of Excel. A lot has changed since, Google Sheets is now a robust and reliable spreadsheet package that ranks toe-to-toe against Microsoft Excel.

In addition to the regular spreadsheet features, what truly sets Google Sheets apart is how easy it is to collaborate and share files.

Today, we will explore a nifty function in Sheets that allows you to add the current date and time. This is particularly useful if you use Google Sheets to monitor your tasks and deliverables, plan your week, track your finances, and so on.

Insert Current Time in Google Sheets Using NOW

NOW is a highly customizable official Google Spreadsheet function that returns the computer system date and time in a cell. It's effortless to use and requires no parameters. You can use this function by typing =NOW() into the required cell.

Related: Google Sheets: Every Keyboard Shortcut You Need for Windows and Mac

It's important to note that this function will update the timestamp only when you change the document. This essentially means that unless you make any edits to the document, you will not see the current date and time, only the previous one. However, if you plan to edit your document regularly, this is not going to be an issue.

If you're looking for a more up-to-date option, you can quickly change the spreadsheet settings to update every minute or every hour.

Google Sheets spreadsheet settings

You can change the update settings with the following steps:

  1. Open your Google Sheets file.
  2. Navigate to File > Spreadsheet settings > Calculation.
  3. In the Recalculation dropdown menu, select the appropriate date and time update settings.

Google Sheets also allows you to display the current date and time according to a specified format. One way of doing this is by using the NOW function with the TEXT function. Some common ways of formatting the date and timestamp are as follows:

  • To see the current day, month, and year in a year-month-day format, use =TEXT( NOW() ; "YYYY-M-D" ), it will return 2011-2-20
  • To see the current time (with seconds) use =TEXT( NOW() ; "HH:MM:SS" ), it will return 13:24:56

Get Current Date in Google Sheets Using TODAY

Sometimes you only need to display the current date. While you can achieve this with the NOW function, there's an easier way. A more accessible and direct method of getting the current date in Google Sheets is to use the TODAY formula.

get date using TODAY()

To use the TODAY function to get the current date, type =TODAY() in the required cell.

Related: How to Use Filter Views in Google Sheets

Similar to the NOW function, TODAY also does not require any parameters. It gives you the current date in the format used in your region. TODAY can return the current date in either the DD/MM/YYYY or MM/DD/YYYY format.

How to Format Date and Time in Google Sheets?

Both NOW and TODAY functions display the date and time timestamp in the default formatting. This can be very different from the specific format you require. Above, we discussed a method to format the NOW function using the TEXT function. This can be ideal for more advanced formats, but is unnecessary otherwise.

Change date time format in Google Sheets

To format the date and time in Google Sheets, navigate to Format > Number > More Formats > More date and time formats.

You can then customize the date and time format as per your requirement. With this setting changed, you can apply a custom date and time format to both NOW and TODAY functions.

Display Current Date and Time in Google Sheets

Google Sheets is compelling and is quickly becoming a mainstream spreadsheet package. Adding the current date and time to your Google Sheet is easier than ever. Sheets also offers a vast range of spreadsheet features and is made for team collaboration on the fly.