How to format date values in Google Sheets

Author imagePublished on Dec 4, 2023 by

Levi

One of the features of Sheet Monkey that our users love is the automatic date time fields. But I was talking to a Sheet Monkey user today and they were struggling with getting the column to format the dates correctly in Google Sheets. It's actually pretty simple to format dates and times in Google Sheets. Here's what I shared with them.

  1. Select the Column: Click on the column header to select the entire column or click and drag to choose specific cells containing the date time values you want to format.
  2. Go to Format Menu: At the top of the Google Sheets window, find the "Format" menu.
  3. Choose "Number" > "Date" or "Time": Click on "Format" in the menu bar, then hover over "Number." From there, select either "Date" or "Time" based on how you want your date time values to be displayed.
  4. Select Date/Time Format: Once you've chosen either "Date" or "Time," a drop-down menu will appear with various date or time format options. Click on the format that best fits your preference.
  5. Customize Format (if necessary): If the standard formats don't meet your specific needs, you can click on "More Formats" at the bottom of the drop-down list. This will allow you to create a custom date or time format.
  6. Apply the Format: Click on the desired format, and Google Sheets will immediately apply it to the selected cells or the entire column, displaying your date time values in the chosen format.

When Sheet Monkey inserts rows it always uses the formatting of the previous row, so you can just set the desired format and Sheet Monkey will continue that for all new data.

Hope this is helpful!

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