Insert the Current Date and Time in Excel for Mac (Shortcuts and Formulas)
Timestamping a cell is a two-second job once you know the keys. The catch on a Mac is that the date and the time use different modifier keys, which is easy to get backwards.
Quick answer: In Excel for Mac, press Control+; to insert today's date and ⌘; to insert the current time. To insert both in one cell, press Control+;, then Space, then ⌘;. These values are static. For a date that updates, use =TODAY() or =NOW(). The Mac Excel Shortcuts app is built for people who want Windows-style shortcuts working in Excel on a Mac.
The shortcuts
| What you want | Windows | Mac |
|---|---|---|
| Today's date | Ctrl+; | Control+; |
| Current time | Ctrl+Shift+; | ⌘; |
| Date and time together | Ctrl+; then Space then Ctrl+Shift+; | Control+; |
This is the part that catches people: on a Mac the date uses Control, but the time uses Command. A lot of Mac guides assume Command for both, and it does not work.
Static vs live values
The shortcuts type the date or time as a fixed value. Open the file tomorrow and it still shows today's date. That is what you want for logs, invoices and records of when something happened.
If you want a cell that always shows the current date, use a formula:
| Formula | Result | Updates? |
|---|---|---|
| =TODAY() | Today's date | Yes, whenever the workbook recalculates |
| =NOW() | Date and current time | Yes |
A common pattern is to use the shortcut for any record you want to keep, and =TODAY() only where you really need a live value, such as an ageing calculation.
Formatting the result
If the cell shows a number such as 45213 instead of a date, the format is wrong. Press ⌘1 to open Format Cells, then choose Date or Time.
If the shortcut does nothing
Check you used Control, not Command, for the date.
Make sure you are not in the middle of editing another cell's formula.
If another app has taken the shortcut, see why Excel shortcuts stop working on a Mac.