Final answer:
In Excel, the NETWORKDAYS function is used to calculate working days between two dates, excluding weekends and optionally holidays. Enter the start and end dates in separate cells and list any holidays if needed, then apply the function with these cell references to get the number of working days.
Step-by-step explanation:
To calculate the working days between two dates in Excel, you can use the NETWORKDAYS function, which automatically excludes weekends (Saturday and Sunday) and can also exclude a custom list of holidays if provided. The basic syntax of the NETWORKDAYS function is:
=NETWORKDAYS(start_date, end_date, [holidays])
If you do not have holidays to exclude, the formula would be as simple as =NETWORKDAYS(A1, B1) which will calculate the number of working days between the dates in A1 and B1.
Note that Excel considers Saturday and Sunday as the weekend by default. If your weekends are on different days, you can use the NETWORKDAYS.INTL function, which allows you to specify which days of the week should be considered as weekend days.
The NETWORKDAYS function is very useful in business and project management for calculating the actual number of workable days in a given period, which can be crucial for planning and scheduling.