NETWORKDAYS function

NETWORKDAYS syntax

Argument	Required	What it means
start_date	Yes	The first day. It counts if it's a working day.
end_date	Yes	The last day, which counts too. If it's before start_date, the result is negative.
holidays	No	A range of dates to leave out, such as public holidays or days the office is closed. Order doesn't matter.

Examples

Working days in a month

January 2026 has 31 days, and the weekdays among them are the working days.

C2fx=NETWORKDAYS(A2,B2)

Row	A	B	C
1	From	To	Working days
2	1 Jan 2026	31 Jan 2026	22

=NETWORKDAYS(A2,B2) → 22Copy

Leave out holidays

The third argument lists days off. All three here fall on weekdays, so each takes one day off the count.

C2fx=NETWORKDAYS(A2,B2,E2:E4)

Row	A	B	C	D	E
1	From	To	Working days		Holidays
2	1 Dec 2026	31 Dec 2026	20		24 Dec 2026
3					25 Dec 2026
4					31 Dec 2026

=NETWORKDAYS(A2,B2,E2:E4) → 20Copy

A Friday and Saturday weekend

NETWORKDAYS.INTL takes a weekend code as its third argument; 7 means Friday and Saturday off. January 2026 has five Fridays and five Saturdays.

C2fx=NETWORKDAYS.INTL(A2,B2,7)

Row	A	B	C
1	From	To	Working days
2	1 Jan 2026	31 Jan 2026	21

=NETWORKDAYS.INTL(A2,B2,7) → 21Copy

A six-day week

A weekend can also be spelled out day by day, Monday first, with 1 for a day off: "0000001" is Sundays only.

C2fx=NETWORKDAYS.INTL(A2,B2,"0000001")

Row	A	B	C
1	From	To	Days open
2	1 Jan 2026	31 Jan 2026	27

=NETWORKDAYS.INTL(A2,B2,"0000001") → 27Copy

Practise it

New data, so you can't copy the answer above. We check the number your formula returns, then change the data to make sure it still holds.

Your task: In C2, count the billable days from A2 to B2: Monday to Friday, without the days the office is closed (E2:E4).

Graded live

C2fx

Row	A	B	C	D	E
1	From	To	Billable days		Closed
2	1 Apr 2026	30 Apr 2026			3 Apr 2026
3					6 Apr 2026
4					25 May 2026

Write the formula in the bar above, then press Check or Enter.

Hint

NETWORKDAYS takes the first day, the last day and the list of closed days: A2, B2 and E2:E4.

Solution

=NETWORKDAYS(A2,B2,E2:E4) Any formula that returns the same result passes.

Check

Common mistakes

1. Subtracting the dates. =B2-A2 counts every calendar day, and leaves out the first one. NETWORKDAYS counts working days and includes both ends.
2. Expecting the first day not to count. Monday to Friday of one week is 5 working days, not 4: both the start and the end date count.
3. A weekend code in NETWORKDAYS. NETWORKDAYS's third argument is the holidays, so a 7 there is read as a date in January 1900 and the weekend stays Saturday and Sunday. Weekend codes go in NETWORKDAYS.INTL.
4. Holidays typed as text. Microsoft warns that dates typed as text can cause problems. Keep the holiday list as real dates.

NETWORKDAYS.INTL: other weekends

=NETWORKDAYS.INTL(start_date, end_date, [weekend], [holidays]) works like NETWORKDAYS, with the weekend as its third argument and the holidays moved to the fourth. The weekend is a code:

Code	Days off
1, or left out	Saturday and Sunday
2 to 7	Two days in a row, from Sunday and Monday (2) to Friday and Saturday (7)
11 to 17	One day, from Sunday only (11) to Saturday only (17)

Or spell the week out in seven characters, one for each day from Monday to Sunday, with 1 for a day off and 0 for a working day: "0000011" is a Saturday and Sunday weekend, and "1000001" gives Sunday and Monday off. WORKDAY has the same codes in WORKDAY.INTL.