How to Use NETWORKDAYS in Excel
Counts working days between two dates while excluding weekends and your own holiday list.
What is NETWORKDAYS in Microsoft Excel?
NETWORKDAYS returns how many Monday-to-Friday days fall between two dates, minus any dates you list as holidays. It is the correct way to measure turnaround time, SLA compliance and leave balances. Use NETWORKDAYS.INTL when your weekend is not Saturday and Sunday.
Formula Syntax
Arguments Breakdown
| Argument | Requirement | Purpose & Details |
|---|---|---|
| start_date | Required | The first date, counted if it is a working day. |
| end_date | Required | The last date, also counted when it is a working day. |
| holidays | Optional | A range of dates to exclude, such as a named HolidayList table. |
When to Use NETWORKDAYS (Real-World Business Scenarios)
- 1
Measuring actual working days a support ticket stayed open.
- 2
Calculating leave days used, excluding weekends and public holidays.
- 3
Setting an SLA deadline of 5 working days from a request date.
Step-by-Step Practical Business Example
Suppose you have the following dataset in Excel cells A1:D4:
| Ticket | Opened | Closed | Working Days |
|---|---|---|---|
| T-101 | 2026-11-02 | 2026-11-06 | 5 |
| T-102 | 2026-11-05 | 2026-11-09 | 3 |
| T-103 | 2026-10-30 | 2026-11-03 | 3 |
How it works: Counts Monday to Friday between the two dates and removes any date that appears in the Holidays range.
Common Errors & How to Fix Them
Why it happens: The end date is earlier than the start date.
Fix: Swap the arguments or guard with IF(C2<B2,0,NETWORKDAYS(B2,C2)).
Why it happens: The weekend in your region is not Saturday and Sunday, for example Friday and Saturday in parts of the Middle East.
Fix: Use NETWORKDAYS.INTL and pass the correct weekend code, such as 7 for Friday and Saturday.
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Frequently Asked Questions (NETWORKDAYS)
What does the NETWORKDAYS formula do in Excel?
NETWORKDAYS returns how many Monday-to-Friday days fall between two dates, minus any dates you list as holidays. It is the correct way to measure turnaround time, SLA compliance and leave balances. Use NETWORKDAYS.INTL when your weekend is not Saturday and Sunday.
What is the syntax for NETWORKDAYS?
What are common mistakes when using NETWORKDAYS?
Result is negative: The end date is earlier than the start date. (Swap the arguments or guard with IF(C2<B2,0,NETWORKDAYS(B2,C2)).) Weekends are counted: The weekend in your region is not Saturday and Sunday, for example Friday and Saturday in parts of the Middle East. (Use NETWORKDAYS.INTL and pass the correct weekend code, such as 7 for Friday and Saturday.)
Related Excel Formulas
Keep building your formula toolkit with these date & time functions.
- TODAYReturns the current date, refreshed every time the workbook recalculates — the anchor for ageing reports.
- DATEDIFReturns the difference between two dates in complete years, months or days — the standard way to calculate age and tenure.
- EOMONTHReturns the last day of a month, any number of months before or after a given date — the backbone of monthly reporting.
- EDATEAdds or subtracts whole months from a date while keeping the same day of the month — perfect for due dates and renewals.
- XLOOKUPThe modern, versatile replacement for VLOOKUP and HLOOKUP that searches in any direction without column index numbers.
- VLOOKUPThe industry-standard vertical lookup function that searches the first column of a table and returns a value in the same row.
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