DATEDIF
Quirk foundCategory: Date and time · Last tested 2026-09-01
Real compatibility results for the DATEDIF function: executed in Excel for the web, Google Sheets and LibreOffice Calc, with desktop Excel behavior from Microsoft’s official documentation (we do not run desktop Excel — Excel for the web is a different application and is executed separately). Syntax and links to that documentation are below.
Support matrix
| Engine | Documented | Live-tested | Verdict |
|---|---|---|---|
| Excel (desktop) | Yes | No — documented only | n/a |
| Excel for the web | — | Yes (recalc, 2026-09-01) | Supported, behaves as documented |
| Google Sheets | Yes | Yes (Drive import, 2026-08-29) | Supported, behaves as documented |
| LibreOffice Calc | Yes | Yes (25.8.7.3, 2026-07-29) | Quirk found |
LibreOffice version history
We executed the same test cases under each LibreOffice release to show exactly when DATEDIF’s support changed — not documentation claims, real results.
| LibreOffice version | Verdict | Tested |
|---|---|---|
| 24.2.0.3 | Quirk found | 2026-08-29 |
| 24.8.7.2 | Quirk found | 2026-08-29 |
| 25.2.0.3 | Quirk found | 2026-08-29 |
| 25.8.7.3 | Quirk found | 2026-07-29 |
Why isn't DATEDIF working in LibreOffice?
DATEDIF exists in LibreOffice 25.8.7.3, but it is not a drop-in match for
Excel — our executed tests found real behavioral differences (detailed in the test results on this
page). If a formula that works in Excel or Google Sheets misbehaves in LibreOffice, compare your usage
against the failing cases above before assuming your data is wrong.
Discovered quirks
-
=DATEDIF(DATE(2024,1,10),DATE(2024,1,1),"D") on
LibreOffice Calc returned
#VALUE!, but the documented/expected
result is #NUM!.
Provenance
Microsoft docs state end<start raises #NUM!; record engines' ACTUAL error code here since this is a known point of cross-engine divergence; MISMATCH vs expected: expected '#NUM!', got '#VALUE!'
Executed test cases
Excel for the web (executed 2026-09-01 via OneDrive recalculation)
These values come from Excel for the web, not from desktop Excel. They are two different implementations of the calculation engine, and this run measured only the web one: the corpus was uploaded to OneDrive as .xlsx, recalculated by Excel for the web on open, and downloaded again for readback. Excel for the web is a rolling service with no pinnable version, so the run is identified by its date. Where a value here disagrees with the Expected column — which is Microsoft’s documentation of the desktop product — we cannot tell you whether the web engine diverges from the desktop one or the documentation is wrong about both, because we do not run desktop Excel.
| Formula | Description | Result | Expected | Verdict |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| =DATEDIF(DATE(2020,1,1),DATE(2023,6,15),"Y") | Whole years between two dates | 3 | 3 | Matched |
| =DATEDIF(DATE(2020,1,1),DATE(2023,6,15),"M") | Whole months between two dates | 41 | 41 | Matched |
| =DATEDIF(DATE(2024,1,1),DATE(2024,1,10),"D") | Whole days between two dates | 9 | 9 | Matched |
| =DATEDIF(DATE(2024,1,31),DATE(2024,3,1),"MD") | "MD" (days ignoring months and years) is documented by Microsoft as unreliable/buggy for some date combos | -1 | -1ProvenanceTextbook-naive expectation might be ~1, but MD has a well-known Microsoft-acknowledged bug around month-end dates; recording the ACTUAL engine output is the point of this test |
Matched |
| =DATEDIF(DATE(2024,1,10),DATE(2024,1,1),"D") | End date before start date -> #NUM! per Microsoft's documented DATEDIF behavior | #NUM! | #NUM!ProvenanceMicrosoft docs state end<start raises #NUM!; record engines' ACTUAL error code here since this is a known point of cross-engine divergence |
Matched |
Google Sheets (executed 2026-08-29 via Drive import)
Google Sheets is a rolling service with no pinnable version, so this run is identified by its date. The corpus was imported to Drive as .xlsx, recalculated by Sheets, and exported back for readback.
| Formula | Description | Result | Expected | Verdict |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| =DATEDIF(DATE(2020,1,1),DATE(2023,6,15),"Y") | Whole years between two dates | 3 | 3 | Matched |
| =DATEDIF(DATE(2020,1,1),DATE(2023,6,15),"M") | Whole months between two dates | 41 | 41 | Matched |
| =DATEDIF(DATE(2024,1,1),DATE(2024,1,10),"D") | Whole days between two dates | 9 | 9 | Matched |
| =DATEDIF(DATE(2024,1,31),DATE(2024,3,1),"MD") | "MD" (days ignoring months and years) is documented by Microsoft as unreliable/buggy for some date combos | -1 | -1ProvenanceTextbook-naive expectation might be ~1, but MD has a well-known Microsoft-acknowledged bug around month-end dates; recording the ACTUAL engine output is the point of this test |
Matched |
| =DATEDIF(DATE(2024,1,10),DATE(2024,1,1),"D") | End date before start date -> #NUM! per Microsoft's documented DATEDIF behavior | #NUM! | #NUM!ProvenanceMicrosoft docs state end<start raises #NUM!; record engines' ACTUAL error code here since this is a known point of cross-engine divergence |
Matched |
LibreOffice Calc 25.8.7.3 (tested 2026-07-29)
| Formula | Description | Result | Expected | Verdict |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| =DATEDIF(DATE(2020,1,1),DATE(2023,6,15),"Y") | Whole years between two dates | 3 | 3 | Matched |
| =DATEDIF(DATE(2020,1,1),DATE(2023,6,15),"M") | Whole months between two dates | 41 | 41 | Matched |
| =DATEDIF(DATE(2024,1,1),DATE(2024,1,10),"D") | Whole days between two dates | 9 | 9 | Matched |
| =DATEDIF(DATE(2024,1,31),DATE(2024,3,1),"MD") | "MD" (days ignoring months and years) is documented by Microsoft as unreliable/buggy for some date combos | -1 | -1ProvenanceTextbook-naive expectation might be ~1, but MD has a well-known Microsoft-acknowledged bug around month-end dates; recording the ACTUAL engine output is the point of this test |
Matched |
| =DATEDIF(DATE(2024,1,10),DATE(2024,1,1),"D") | End date before start date -> #NUM! per Microsoft's documented DATEDIF behavior | #VALUE! | #NUM!ProvenanceMicrosoft docs state end<start raises #NUM!; record engines' ACTUAL error code here since this is a known point of cross-engine divergence |
Mismatch |
Docs & syntax
- Excel (desktop): official documentation
- Google Sheets: official documentation
- LibreOffice Calc: official documentation
Related how-to recipes
- How to calculate age in years from a birth date
- How to calculate age in years and months
- How to calculate the number of days between two dates
- How to calculate the number of months between two dates
- How to calculate the next birthday (or anniversary) date
Where DATEDIF behaves differently
- DATEDIF across Excel, Google Sheets and LibreOffice
DATEDIF's "MD" bug is reproduced exactly in LibreOffice, so migrating will not fix it — but end-before-start returns #VALUE! instead of Excel's documented #NUM!. - Every error code LibreOffice reports as #VALUE!
Across our 2,334-case executed corpus, 272 cases in 135 functions return #VALUE! in LibreOffice Calc 25.8.7.3 where Microsoft documents #NUM! (244), #N/A (15), #DIV/0! (10) or #REF! (3). Google Sheets returns the documented code on 239 of the 249 it has a function for. Identical in all four LibreOffice builds tested. - #NUM! vs #VALUE!: Excel vs LibreOffice
Domain errors Microsoft documents as #NUM! - LN(0), SQRT(-16), out-of-range LARGE - return #VALUE! in LibreOffice. Google Sheets returns #NUM! on all 16, executed: LibreOffice is alone.