Excel Certification Practice Exam 2026 – The All-in-One Guide to Mastering Your Certification!

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How do you obtain the current date and time in Excel?

TODAY()

NOW()

To obtain the current date and time in Excel, the function that should be used is NOW(). This function returns the current date and time as a serial number, which can be displayed in various formats depending on your needs. This is particularly useful for timestamps or when performing time-sensitive calculations.

NOW() updates automatically whenever the worksheet is recalculated, ensuring that you have the most up-to-date date and time without needing to re-enter it manually.

The other options do not serve the same purpose: TODAY() will only provide the current date without the time portion, while CURRENT() and DATETIME() are not valid functions in Excel, as they do not exist in Excel's function library. Thus, while TODAY() has its applications, for capturing both the current date and time, NOW() is the appropriate choice.

CURRENT()

DATETIME()