Automatically update the TODAY function in formulas

Enterprise licensed users can use AI to generate formulas. Learn more.

For the TODAY function to recognize what the current date is, the sheet must be updated and saved. If there is a chance that a sheet may not have enough daily activity for TODAY to update, there are few different workflows you can leverage to automatically update your sheet.

Option 1: Record a date in a helper column 

First, add a Date type of column to your sheet and add yesterday's date (or any date in the past) into a cell. You can then hide this column. 

Next, create a time-based workflow to add today's date into that new column using the Record a Date action. 

To create this workflow:

1. Select Automation > Create workflow from scratch.
2. Title your workflow (for example, "Daily Update").
3. Set the trigger to When a date is reached.
4. Select Run Once and change this to Custom > Repeat every Day.
5. Select an early morning time for the trigger (e.g. 2:00AM).
6. Configure a condition block for where the new date column is in the past. 
7. Set the Action block to Record a date in that date column.

Remember to add at least one past date into your new date column so that your workflow has a cell to update tomorrow. 

Option 2: Record a date and use cell links to update multiple sheets

If you have multiple sheets to update, you can set up the date column and workflow described above in a separate reference sheet. Next, use a cell link to bring the date from this reference sheet into your current sheet that contains the TODAY function. 

The automation will add a new date to the reference sheet daily, which will in turn update your formula sheet via the cell-link data change.

Option 3: Use Bridge to schedule a daily sheet save

If you have access to Bridge, see the Bridge article explaining the Schedule Daily Sheet Save template.