Excel is a phenomenal tool when it comes to organizing, analyzing, and manipulating data. One such example is transforming a full date into just the year. This could be useful in many scenarios such as data analysis, project management, or financial calculations.
Method 1: Using the YEAR function
Excel has a built-in function known as the YEAR function. The YEAR function is a Date/Time function that returns the year of a date as a four-digit number. The syntax of the YEAR function is as follows:
=YEAR(serial_number)
Where serial_number is the date of the year you want to find. Dates should be entered by using the DATE function, or as results of other formulas or functions.
For example, let’s say you have a date in cell A2 and you want to extract the year from this date. Simply enter the following formula into the cell where you want the year to be displayed:
Method 2: Using Text to Columns
If you prefer not to use a formula, Excel’s Text to Columns feature can also be used to extract the year from a date.
Here’s how:
- Select the cells with the dates from which you want to extract the year.
- Go to the Data tab and click on Text to Columns.
- In the wizard that opens, select Delimited and click Next.
- Uncheck all delimiter options and click Next.
- Under Column data format, select Date and choose the format that is same as the date format in your selected cells. Then click Finish.
The above steps would split the date into day, month, and year in separate columns.
Conclusion
Extracting the year from a date in Excel can be done in a variety of ways depending on your preference. You can use the simple YEAR function or leverage the Text to Columns feature for the same result. Regardless of the method, getting just the year from a full date can be a handy tool for your Excel toolkit.
