adding dates to numeric value to obtain another date

Margaret Barnett

I want to add a date numeric value in another field.

example [date]1 + [days]1 = date

Where "Date" equals 7/1/2020 and "days" 30 with the final date equal to 7/31/2020.

The expectation is instead of having hard and fast dates to work with, to create a timeframe of when work will begin and the estimated time for completion.

a person could plan that they will begin a task in 30 days and it will take less than 60 days to complete so i should see completion of a task in 90 days or less.

This is a learning exercise to explain time estimations and how to both look forward for estimated completions and buffer zones as well as how to "back into" dates based on required completion.

The sheet will contain columns for estimated start and estimated completion.

Then there will be a cell with a master date of when work would begin and another cell with today's date.

master start date is 7/1/2020

work is estimated to begin in 30 days so 7/31/2020 and work to be completed before 9/29/2020

then today's date - 7/15/2020

now work will not begin before 8/14/2020 with an estimated time of completion of 10/13/2020 and there is a slippage 15 days which have to either be made up somewhere or slide everything back.

when i try to add the date cell to the value of days, it returns either a 0 or unparsonable -

Thoughts?

Paul Newcome

Is the [Begin Tracking Date] column set as a date type column in the column properties?

Paul Newcome

You should be able to use

=[Date Column]@row + [Days Column]@row

Margaret Barnett

taking your comment, i tried:

=[date column]@row+[date column]@row

=[date column]row+[date column]row

=sum([date column]@row+[date column]@row)

=sum([date column]row+[date column]row)

all return #unparseable

Paul Newcome

You need to make sure you are using the actual column names that are in your sheet.

Margaret Barnett

yes, i did do that - just didn't write the column heading in my respons

Paul Newcome

You need to use either @row OR a number for the row reference.

[Column Name]@row

or

[Column Name]1

Margaret Barnett

Thank you for your assistance. I've attached a screen with all the equation combinations to show the results of the equation.

Paul Newcome

Is the [Begin Tracking Date] column set as a date type column in the column properties?