Formula To Minus a day from a cell

[rahul_ferns76]

Hello Experts
What can I use if I have a date (02/05/2016) in cell D4

I need Cell G4 to automatically show the previous date (01/05/2016)

What formula can I use?
Please help

Thanks

Regards
Rahul

[JohnTopley]

in G4

=D4-1

[Tony Valko]

In Excel dates are really just numbers formatted to look like dates. These numbers are commonly referred to as the date serial number. The date serial number is the count of days starting from a base date. In Windows Excel the default base date is January 1, 1900. So, January 1, 1900 is date serial number 1.

Jan 1 1900 = date serial number 1
Jan 2 1900 = date serial number 2
Jan 3 1900 = date serial number 3
Jan 4 1900 = date serial number 4
Jan 5 1900 = date serial number 5
etc
etc
Jan 1 1975 = date serial number 27395
Jan 1 2000 = date serial number 36526
Jan 1 2016 = date serial number 42370

You can see the date serial number by entering some date in a cell and then changing that cells format to General or Number.

So, you just need to subtract 1 from the date:

=D4-1

Format as Date if needed.

[rahul_ferns76]

Hi John & Tony
Thanks for that

It was so simple and I feel so stupid

Thanks a lot

Rahul

[Tony Valko]

You're welcome. We appreciate the feedback!