NETWORKDAYS counts working dates between two endpoints, excluding standard weekends and a supplied holiday list. It does not automatically know your organization’s holidays.
Define the calendar
With start and end dates in A2 and B2 and holidays in H2:H20, use =NETWORKDAYS(A2,B2,H2:H20). Standard NETWORKDAYS treats Saturday and Sunday as weekends.
For a different weekend pattern, use NETWORKDAYS.INTL with a reviewed weekend setting. Keep the holiday range as actual date values, not merely text that resembles dates.
Understand endpoint counting
Qualifying start and end dates are included. A Monday-to-Friday interval without holidays contains five working days, not four. This differs from simple elapsed-date subtraction.
If your business policy excludes the start date, define that adjustment explicitly. Do not silently change the holiday list to make the result match a deadline calculation that uses another counting convention.
Verify a known week
Test an ordinary working week, a holiday inside it, and an interval crossing a weekend. Check whether the holiday list covers the appropriate country, location, year, and observed substitute dates.
Working-day counts are not automatically working-hour totals. Half days, shift patterns, and local exceptions need additional modeling. Keep the authoritative calendar and its effective period alongside the result. Avoid typing unquoted slash-separated dates directly as function arguments, since they can be interpreted as division expressions; use date cells or DATE with numeric year, month, and day components. Review new-year calendar updates before reusing the workbook for another period. Check that holidays were not accidentally stored as ordinary text.
References
Reviewed against the linked official product guidance on November 3, 2026. Features, limits, screen labels, and access can vary by account, platform, region, and organization policy.