Excel formula: Get first Monday before any date

Get first Monday before any date

Figure 1. Get First Monday Before Any Date in Excel.

Let’s assume that we are required to find the first Monday occurring before a specific date in Excel, we will have to make use of the WEEKDAY function.

Generic Formula

=date- WEEKDAY (date - 2)

The WEEKDAY formula will help us to look back in time to locate the nearest Monday before a specific date.

How to use the Excel WORKDAY Function.

To use the WORKDAY Function in Excel, follow these 3 simple steps;

List out the dates we want Excel to reference in a labeled column of our worksheet.

Figure 2. Get First Monday Before Any Date in Excel.

Our purpose here is to determine the first Monday occuring before the dates in column A of our worksheet.

In the example above, the WORKDAY formula which we are going to enter into cell B2, is as follows;

=A2-WEEKDAY(A2-2)

Figure 3. Get First Monday Before Any Date in Excel.

The Excel WORKDAY Function automatically returned 5)12/1980 as the first Monday occuring before the date in cell A2.

Edit the WORKDAY formula in cell B2 and copy into the other cells in the MONDAY BEFORE column to achieve the required results.

Figure 4. Get First Monday Before Any Date in Excel.

The Excel WORKDAY Function is based on Excel’s default scheme, where Monday is recognized as 2 in a week beginning on Sunday.

Excel calculates roll back by obtaining the actual value of the weekday of the date, two days ahead of our specified date, and then it subtracts this value from our date.

Figure 5. Final Result.

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Another blog reader asked this question today on Excelchat:

formula to roll forward a date to a Monday if the date falls in a Saturday or a sunday

An Excelchat Expert solved this problem in 13 mins!

I need to total time in hours, minutes, seconds from monday - friday for a total average time for that week. Monday, 7/16 Tuesday, 7/17 Wednesday, 7/18 Thursday, 7/19 Friday, 7/20 Average Per Week 00:05:45 00:10:01 00:06:47 00:03:32 00:04:12 ? this is what the first person's time looked like starting on 7/16. I need to get this average per week for each person every monday. I cannot figure out how to add these times across in order to get an average time per week. if you can give me the steps i will write them down so I can follow them every monday. thank you

An Excelchat Expert solved this problem in 27 mins!

Hello, I have a Microsoft Date and Time Picker Control inserted into an excel sheet that has a submit button macro to send an Outlook email of the worksheet. I worked with someone to get a code to require specific fields before submitting, but I'm not sure how to get the date to be required since it already populates automatically. Is there a way to A) make the Date and Time Picker blank before a user inputs a date and B) make it a requirement to pick a date before being able to use the submit button?

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