Add Months to a Date in Excel (EDATE, and end-of-month)

Adding 30 days is not adding a month. EDATE adds real calendar months and handles short months for you.

Steps

1. Start date in B1.
2. Click B2. Type =EDATE(B1, 6). Enter.
3. If a number appears, format the cell as Date (Ctrl + Shift + 3).

31 Jan + 6 months = 31 Jul. 31 Jan + 1 month = 28 Feb (EDATE clips to the last valid day).

Subtract months

=EDATE(B1, -3)

Last day of the month, N months on

=EOMONTH(B1, 2)

Two months after 15 Jan → 31 Mar. EOMONTH(B1, 0) is the end of the same month.

First day of next month

=EOMONTH(B1, 0) + 1

Add years, days, or weeks

Renewal dates for a whole list

Start dates in column A, term in months in column B: C2 =EDATE(A2, B2), drag down. Highlight the ones due in 30 days: Conditional Formatting › formula =AND(C2>=TODAY(), C2<=TODAY()+30).

Check it worked

=EDATE(DATE(2026,1,31), 1) must give 28-Feb-2026, not 3-Mar.

Common mistake

=B1 + 30 for “one month”. From 31 Jan that gives 2 Mar. Use EDATE.