Invalid data type/unparsable for date countdown

Eric R

I'm trying to have an automatic countdown but I keep running into an invalid data type or unparsable error. 

I am trying to show how many days remain until a point in the future (07/17/2018).

Here are some of the formulas I've tried without success:

=NETWORKDAYS([timer start]1, [Minimum billing date]1)

=[Minimum billing date]1 - TODAY([timer start]1)

=NETWORKDAYS(5 / 29 / 2018, 7 / 17 / 2018)

=NETWORKDAYS(5 / 29 / 18, 7 / 17 / 18)

I've looked at the different submissions and the guides and it looks like I'm putting the formulas in correctly, but apparently not.

Update: I realized I had the dates wrong and got those fixed. If I type the start and end dates into the formula manually, it works. But if I try and use the call name [time start]1 I still get the error and I'd like to automate this as much as possible.

 

Update 2: I got it figured out. I had minimum billing date in the first column which has to be a text/number type. The cells I was referencing also needed to be set to Date, which is why it wasn't working. By shifting everything to the right one column and setting the minimum billing date and timer start columns to Date the first formula I typed worked.

Andrée Starå

Hi Eric,

Great to hear that you got it working and also thanks for updating your post with an explanation and that you've solved it.

Best,

Andrée Starå - Workflow Consultant / Get Done

dartarro21

I am still having a hard time with this...which one was the formula that ended up working for you? It looks like you put spaces between the numbers and slashes in the date? I have those columns set up as dates columns. I am also still getting errors.