How to add a calendar in a cell – Sheets

When working with spreadsheets we want to be able to enter data as quick as possible and to make it as easy as possible. Here, we’re going to delve into two practical methods for seamlessly integrating calendars into your spreadsheet cells.

By utilising smart chips or data validation, I’ll show you how to speed up date entry while ensuring accuracy.

Adding a calendar in a cell – @

Type “@” and this will open the smart chips menu. Scroll down to Dates and select “Date”.

And bam! You have a calendar in the cell. Just select the date you want by clicking on the calendar.

You can copy that cell and paste it to other cells so you have a calendar in them.

Adding a calendar using Data Validation

Another way to add a calendar is to use Data Validation where you only allow a valid date. Select the cells where you want to add the calendars.

Right click on the range and select “View more cell actions” > “Data validation”.

This will open the “Data Validation rules” sidebar. Click on “Add rule”.

Here, we can see the range we selected. Note, you could select the range from here. By default, it’ll want to add drop-downs to your range. Click on the Criteria drop-down menu.

Then select the “Is valid date” option.

You also have a couple of extra options here. First, you can add a help text, to tell the user what you want them to type in these cells. Second, you can decide if they must enter a date (“Reject the input”), or only to show them a warning if they don’t (Show a warning”).

Then click “Done”.

As we can see, when we click on one of the cells we get a calendar.

You can copy the data validation you’ve set up and paste it to other cells. Either use Ctrl+C to copy or right-click and select “Copy”.

Then right-click on the cells you want to add the calendar to and select “Paste special” > “Data validation only”.

As you can see we’ve added a calendar to another cell, without having to go into the data validation rules.

If we open the rules, we can see that it’s updated the range we are applying the rules to. In this case A1:A10 and D1.

The calendar is a great way to make entering dates quick and easy whilst also controlling the data in those cells.

Check out my Sheets tips here.