MS Excel: MONTH function to extract minute from date - time value

The MONTH function in Microsoft Excel returns the month from a given date. It's widely used in financial reports, project planning, seasonal analysis, and any scenario where understanding or grouping data by calendar months is required.

Whether you're sorting transactions, creating month-wise summaries, or automating date-based formulas, the MONTH function is a must-know.

Syntax

=MONTH(serial_number)

Parameter:

Argument	Description
serial_number	A valid Excel date, date-formatted cell, or a formula that returns a date.

Excel stores dates as sequential serial numbers, starting from January 1, 1900.

Return Value

An integer between 1 and 12, where:

• 1 = January

• 2 = February

• …

• 12 = December

Examples

A (Date)	Formula	Result	Explanation
2025-01-01	=MONTH(A2)	1	Returns January
15-Mar-2025	=MONTH(A3)	3	Returns March
31-Dec-2025	=MONTH("31-Dec-2025")	12	Returns December
TODAY()	=MONTH(TODAY())	Varies	Returns current month

Practical Use Cases

Scenario	Purpose
Monthly sales reporting	Extract month to group totals
Project scheduling	Filter or organize by month
Employee records	Determine birth or join month
Conditional formatting	Highlight dates by month
Seasonality analysis	Separate trends by month

Example Table in Excel

Date	Month Number	Month Name
2025-01-10	=MONTH(A2)	=TEXT(A2, "mmmm")
2025-07-15	7	July
2025-12-31	12	December

Related Functions

Function	Description
YEAR()	Returns the year from a date
DAY()	Returns the day of the month from a date
TEXT()	Formats a date to display the full or short month
EDATE()	Adds or subtracts whole months to/from a date
EOMONTH()	Returns the last day of a month from a given date

Notes

• If a non-date number is passed (like 1), Excel assumes it's the date serial number for January 1, 1900, so =MONTH(1) returns 1.

• MONTH("2025-04-15") works, as Excel recognizes it as a valid date string.

Pro Tip

Want to display the name of the month instead of the number? Combine with the TEXT function:

=TEXT(A2, "mmmm") → April =TEXT(A2, "mmm") → Apr

Or for a full dynamic message:

="Report for the month of " & TEXT(A2, "mmmm")

Summary Table

Feature	Details
Function Name	MONTH
Input Type	Date or serial number
Output	Integer (1 to 12)
Common Uses	Grouping, filtering, labeling
Availability	All Excel versions

Conclusion

The MONTH function is simple but powerful when working with time-based data. It helps you efficiently categorize, analyze, and visualize data across monthly timelines — a critical task in many industries.