If you regularly log updates, track tasks, or note when something was completed, typing the date and time by hand can be surprisingly slow — and it’s easy to make mistakes.
Instead, let Excel do the work for you.
- Press Ctrl + ; to instantly insert today’s date
- Press Ctrl + Shift + ; to instantly insert the current time
You can even use them together (date first, then a space, then time) to create a full timestamp like:
15/01/2026 09:42
This is perfect for things like:
- Recording when a report was last updated
- Tracking when data was entered
- Keeping an audit trail in shared spreadsheets
Using these shortcuts only takes a second, but across a day or a week they can save a surprising amount of time — and keep your data more accurate too.
