Excel WEEKDAY: day of the week from a date

Which day of the week was that date? Excel has two answers: a number and a name.

The name (what people usually want)

=TEXT(A1, "ddd")    → Tue
=TEXT(A1, "dddd")   → Tuesday

The number

=WEEKDAY(A1)       → 1 = Sunday … 7 = Saturday
=WEEKDAY(A1, 2)    → 1 = Monday … 7 = Sunday

Use the second form in India and Europe where the week starts on Monday.

Flag weekends

=IF(WEEKDAY(A1, 2) > 5, "Weekend", "Weekday")

Colour weekend rows

Select the table, Conditional Formatting › New Rule › Use a formula: =WEEKDAY($A2,2)>5. Pick a grey fill.

Next Monday after a date

=A1 + 8 - WEEKDAY(A1, 2)

Working days between two dates

=NETWORKDAYS(A1, B1)

Skips Saturdays and Sundays. Add a holiday list as the third part.

Check it worked

Type today’s date in A1. TEXT should give today’s actual day name.

Common mistake

Formatting the cell as “dddd” instead of using a formula. It shows Tuesday but the cell is still a date — sorting and COUNTIF behave unexpectedly. Use TEXT when you need the name as a value.