Master the Excel WEEKDAY Function to Find the Day of the Week

The WEEKDAY function in Excel is your go-to tool for figuring out what day of the week a date falls on. Whether you're organizing schedules, automating reports, or building dynamic calendars, this function adds valuable time intelligence to your spreadsheets.

📘 Syntax:

=WEEKDAY(serial_number, [return_type])

• serial_number: A valid Excel date (e.g., A1 with a date like 07/07/2025)
• return_type: Optional. Controls which day is treated as the start of the week:
  • 1 = Sunday (default)
  • 2 = Monday
  • 3 = Monday as 0 through Sunday as 6

🛠️ Examples:

Example 1: Get weekday number:

=WEEKDAY(A1)

If A1 is 07/07/2025 (a Monday), result = 2 (if default return_type = 1)

Example 2: Get weekday name using CHOOSE:

=CHOOSE(WEEKDAY(A1), "Sun", "Mon", "Tue", "Wed", "Thu", "Fri", "Sat")

Example 3: For full weekday name:

=TEXT(A1, "dddd") → "Monday"

📌 Use Cases:

• Determine weekends vs weekdays for conditional formatting
• Build dynamic schedules or time tracking reports
• Sort or filter tasks based on day of week

⚠️ Tips:

• Always confirm your return_type for consistency
• Use =TEXT() for day names instead of numbers when displaying results to users

✅ Conclusion:

The WEEKDAY function gives you the power to extract the **"when"** from any date. Whether you’re building timesheets, calendar views, or scheduling dashboards, mastering this simple yet powerful function can significantly enhance your productivity in Excel.

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