Working with dates in Excel can be tricky, but the NETWORKDAYS function makes it easier. With this function, you can calculate the number of working days (excluding weekends and holidays) between two given dates. This can be useful for tasks such as calculating deadlines or discount periods.

The syntax of the NETWORKDAYS function is:

NETWORKDAYS(start_date, end_date, [holidays])

The first two parameters are the start date and the end date, which must be entered as either a date value or a reference to a cell that contains a date. The third parameter is an optional argument for any holidays you want to exclude from the calculation. This argument must be entered as an array, list, or range of cells containing the holiday dates.

You can also use this function to calculate the number of working days between a certain date and today's date. For example, if you wanted to calculate the number of working days from January 1st to today, you would use the following formula:

=NETWORKDAYS("1/1/2020", TODAY())

This formula will return the total number of working days between January 1st, 2020 and today's date. You can also use the function to calculate the number of working days left until a certain date. In this case, the syntax would be the same, but the start date would be today's date and the end date would be the future date.

In conclusion, the NETWORKDAYS function in Excel is a powerful tool for calculating the number of working days between two dates. By understanding how to use this function, you'll be able to quickly and easily calculate deadlines or discount periods in Excel.