Non Changing Date or Time in Excel

When you use the today() function or the Now() function they will enter the date or time.

The problem with these function is that they are constantly updating. That is when you enter the today() function it will display todays date but when you open your document tomorrow it will display the next days date. So what we are going to do is enter a timestamp for when something occurs.

  • In the A Column we are going to have our timestamp.
  • This time will be generated for when ever something is added to B Column
  • The Formula we will use is
=IF(B8<>"",IF(A8="",NOW(),A8), "")

You will notice that we have used the Now() in our formula, but it could easily be today()

  • There is a circular reference in this formula
  • Click on File on your ribbon
  • Select Options
  • Select Formulas
  • Click "Enable iterative calculations"
  • Change the Maximum Iterations to "1"
  • Click O.K.

Now you will be able to enter a time stamp or a date stamp for whenever data is entered in your sheet.