NETWORKDAYS.INTL in Google Sheets      

What is NETWORKDAYS.INTL in Google Sheets?

The NETWORKDAYS.INTL function in Google Sheets calculates the number of working days between two given dates. However, the difference between the widely used NETWORKDAYS function, and NETWORKDAYS.INTL is that the latter allows users to define which days of the week should be considered weekends. One can also exclude specific holidays. The it provides more flexibility and is useful for regions or projects where there are non-standard weekends or organizations operating across different countries.

If a business considers Friday and Saturday as weekends and not Saturday and Sunday, this function helps you add that information in the calculation. For example,

=NETWORKDAYS.INTL(“2025-01-01”, “2025-01-15”, 7) counts workdays between January 1 and 15, 2025, excluding Fridays and Saturdays.

Syntax

The syntax of the NETWORKDAYS.INTL function is as follows:

=NETWORKDAYS.INTL(start_date, end_date, [weekend], [holidays])

Arguments:

• start_date: The starting date of the period.
• end_date: The ending date of the period.
• weekend (optional): The weekend parameter allows you to define which days of the week should be considered non-working. It accepts two types of inputs:

• A numeric code (1 to 17) or a 7-digit binary string that defines weekends. By default, Saturday and Sunday are weekends.
• holidays (optional): A list or range of dates to be excluded from working days.

Numeric codes – Predefined combinations of weekend days:

• 1 – Saturday and Sunday (default)
• 2 – Sunday and Monday
• 3 – Monday and Tuesday
• 4 – Tuesday and Wednesday
• 5 – Wednesday and Thursday
• 6 – Thursday and Friday
• 7 – Friday and Saturday
• 11 – Sunday only
• 12 – Monday only
• 13 – Tuesday only
• 14 – Wednesday only
• 15 – Thursday only
• 16 – Friday only
• 17 – Saturday only

7-character binary string – Custom definition where each character represents a day of the week, starting from Monday and 1 = non-working day and 0 = working day

For instance, 1000001 means that Monday and Sunday are weekends

How To Use NETWORKDAYS.INTL Function in Google Sheets?

The NETWORKDAYS.INTL function is used to calculate the number of actual working days between any two given two dates, taking into consideration custom weekends and holidays. This is very helpful in planning of resources, project management, or payroll management. One can use this function in two ways:

• Entering NETWORKDAYS.INTL directly into a cell
• Using the Google menu

Entering NETWORKDAYS.INTL Directly

Let us take an example to see how to do this. Suppose a team is assigned a project that runs from April 1, 2025, to May 15, 2025. The organization observes weekends on Friday and Saturday. There are three public holidays to exclude during this period. Let us look at how to do this.

Step 1: In a spread Sheet, enter the following details as shown below.

Step 2: In an empty cell, input the following formula:

First enter the = sign followed by the function name and open the parentheses. Enter the arguments one by one in the order specified in the syntax, separated by a comma. Here, we mention the cell references. The three holidays are mentioned within curly braces. Close the parentheses.

=NETWORKDAYS.INTL(B1, B2, B3, {B4, B5, B6})

Step 3: Press Enter. The function calculates the working days between April 1 and May 15, excluding Fridays, Saturdays, and the listed holidays.

You can now use this result to the teams’ resources, deliveries, or reporting timelines more efficiently.

Using the Menu Bar:

1. Click on the cell where you want the result to appear.
2. Move to the menu bar and go to:
    a. Insert → Function → Date → NETWORKDAYS.INTL
3. Once the function appears in the selected cell, fill in the required arguments: start date, end date, weekend code (optional), and holidays (optional).
4. Press Enter. The cell will now show the number of working days between the two dates, excluding the weekends and any holidays we specify.

Examples

The following NETWORKDAYS INTL in Google Sheets examples, demonstrate how this function is versatile and can be used for day-to-day scenarios. We will go through some interesting examples to understand its uses.

Example #1

A company wants to know how many workdays fall between January 1, 2025, and March 31, 2025, assuming the standard Saturday-Sunday weekend. This will help them better plan their resources with proper time management so that they deliver an impeccable solution.

Step 1: Enter the dates as shown below in Column B.

Step 2: Let the weekend parameter be blank (as by default it considers Saturday/Sunday as the weekends) or set it to 1, which represents Saturday and Sunday as weekends.

In cell A3, enter the formula:

=NETWORKDAYS.INTL(B1, B2, 1)

Step 4: Press Enter. You will get the total number of business days between January and March 2025, excluding Saturdays and Sundays.

You can also exclude the third parameter and check the result. Use this to estimate working hours, deadlines, or task schedules for the month.

This basic version is most used for monthly planning without considering holidays.

Example #2 – Using NETWORKDAYS.INTL with IF Function

In a school, the principal wants to identify if a student has full attendance of 27 working days. They want to check for 27 working days between April 1^st, 2025, to 13^th May, 2025. The student will be considered for an incentive if so. Since it is a default weekend of Saturday and Sunday, we can ignore the weekend parameter. The student has a holiday on Apr 18^th, 2025, for Good Friday.

Step 1: Input the dates as April 1, 2025, and May 13, 2025, into cells B1 and B2. The holiday is entered in cell B3.

 Step 2: In cell B4, enter the formula which we will explain below:

=IF(NETWORKDAYS.INTL(B1, B2, 1, B3) = 30, “Incentive”, “No incentive”)

Here, 1 means the weekends are Saturday Sunday.

If the number of days between the specified dates in B1 and B2, excluding weekends and the holiday are 27, the student will get an incentive. Hence, we print “Incentive.” If not, there is not incentive and we print that.

Step 3: Press Enter. This shows how the function can be combined with conditional logic to evaluate for students’ performance. This lucky student gets an incentive!

Example #3 – Using NETWORKDAYS.INTL with Conditional Formatting

A team lead wants to highlight rows where task durations span fewer than 10 business days between the start and end dates. Let us consider an interesting scenario also where the team has Sunday and Wednesday as weekends.

Step 1: Enter the start and end days of the different tasks in a Google Sheet. Here we enter the weekend in a binary format for Sunday and Wednesday as 0010001.

Step 2: Enter the following formula in cell D2 and drag it all the way down to D7.

=NETWORKDAYS.INTL(B2, C2, “0010001”)

Step 3: Let us highlight the range A2:D7. Go to Format > Conditional Formatting.

Choose “Custom formula is” and enter the formula:

=NETWORKDAYS.INTL($B2, $C2, “0010001”) < 10

Here, the $ sign applies the formula to the entire range specified and highlights the rows that have less than 10 working days.

Step 5: Choose a background color and click “Done.”

Rows with less than 10 days of the task duration will be highlighted, helping the lead quickly identify high-priority or short-term tasks.

Important Things to Note

1. The start and end dates must be valid date values, or the function will return an #VALUE error.
2. NETWORKDAYS.INTL in Google Sheets assumes Saturday and Sunday as weekends by default unless specified otherwise.
3. Holiday dates should be given as valid date ranges or arrays.
4. This function only counts whole working days, so partial days are not considered in the result.

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)

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