Excel Conditional Formatting with the TODAY function | Duplicate Rule

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Excel Conditional Formatting with the TODAY function | Duplicate Rule

The TODAY function is one of my favorite Date & Time functions in Excel. It returns the current date and will automatically update. We will use the TODAY function with Conditional Formatting and create three rules on a date field.

Excel Conditional Formatting with the Today Function

Excel Conditional Formatting with the Today Function

The date field can be any date field - order date, invoice date, request date, etc. I used the ship date in my example. If the cell's date equals the current date, we will put that one color, any dates less than today's date in another color, and dates greater than today in a third color.

Conditional formatting is located on the Home tab. After writing the first rule, =$G2=TODAY(), I copied the rules to create the other two rules. Here is a screenshot of all three rules.

YouTube Video - Conditional Formatting with the TODAY Function

Excel Conditional Formatting with the TODAY function | Duplicate Rule

Chapters/Bookmarks

- 0:00 Intro - 0:26 Ship date - 0:44 Rule 1 - $G2=TODAY() - 1:47 Mixed Reference - 3:57 Rule 2 - Duplicate rule - 4:47 Rule 3 - 5:20 Resize Conditional Formatting

TODAY Function

=TODAY() The TODAY function has no arguments and will return the current date. When the file is open again, the date will automatically update.It is a great Date & Time Function.

TODAY Function in Excel

TODAY function in Excel

Conditional Formatting Rules

Three rules:

1. Greater Than 2. Less Than 3. Equal To

Conditional Formatting Rules

Three conditional formatting rules

Read more

Copilot Skills in PowerPoint - Live Stream on October 20, 2026

Copilot Skills in PowerPoint - Live Stream on October 20, 2026

𝗠𝗼𝘀𝘁 𝗣𝗼𝘄𝗲𝗿𝗣𝗼𝗶𝗻𝘁 𝘂𝘀𝗲𝗿𝘀 𝗸𝗻𝗼𝘄 𝗖𝗼𝗽𝗶𝗹𝗼𝘁 𝗰𝗮𝗻 𝗰𝗿𝗲𝗮𝘁𝗲 𝘀𝗹𝗶𝗱𝗲𝘀. 𝗙𝗮𝗿 𝗳𝗲𝘄𝗲𝗿 𝗸𝗻𝗼𝘄 𝗮𝗯𝗼𝘂𝘁 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝟴 𝗯𝘂𝗶𝗹𝘁-𝗶𝗻 𝗖𝗼𝗽𝗶𝗹𝗼𝘁 𝗦𝗸𝗶𝗹𝗹𝘀 𝘁𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝗰𝗮𝗻 𝗰𝗼𝗺𝗽𝗹𝗲𝘁𝗲𝗹𝘆 𝗰𝗵𝗮𝗻𝗴𝗲 𝗵𝗼𝘄 𝘆𝗼𝘂 𝗯𝘂𝗶𝗹𝗱, 𝗶𝗺𝗽𝗿𝗼𝘃𝗲, 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗽𝗿𝗲𝘀𝗲𝗻𝘁 𝗮 𝗱𝗲𝗰𝗸. Join me live on October 20, 2026, at Noon Eastern as I demonstrate each Copilot Skill and show practical ways to use them in your presentations. PDF of the 8 Copilot Skills in Pow

By Chris Menard