What You Will Learn
Five orders. Each has a date, a customer name, and a sale amount. You need two answers from the same data: the latest order date across the whole table, and the latest order date specifically for Tesla Motors.
The global answer needs MAX. The customer-specific answer needs XLOOKUP with backward search mode.
B9 — Latest date overall:
=MAX(A2:A6)
Excel stores dates as numbers — later dates have larger values. MAX returns the largest number in the range, which is the newest date. MAX also ignores blank cells and text values automatically, so it works safely even if the column has extra empty rows or notes.
B10 — Tesla's most recent order:
=XLOOKUP("Tesla Motors", B2:B6, A2:A6, "None", 0, -1)
XLOOKUP normally returns the first match it finds. But Tesla appears twice: March 1 and April 1. We want the April 1 date (the latest). By setting the last argument to -1, XLOOKUP searches from the bottom of the list instead of the top — so it finds Tesla's newest order first.
The other arguments: "None" is the value to return if no match is found, and 0 means exact match only. Without the -1, XLOOKUP would return March 1 instead of April 1 — a mistake that would make Tesla look less active than it really is.
MAX for the global latest date. XLOOKUP with -1 for the customer-specific latest date.
B11 — Total order amount:
=SUM(C2:C6)
A simple check to see how much the visible orders represent.
Going Further: LARGE for Rankings
If you later need the second or third most recent dates instead of just the latest one, LARGE lets you specify the rank:
=LARGE(A2:A6, 1) <- most recent
=LARGE(A2:A6, 2) <- second most recent
=LARGE(A2:A6, 3) <- third most recent
MAX is simpler for a single answer. LARGE becomes useful when the sheet needs a ranking, not just a single winner.
If the result looks like a number (45000) instead of a date (2026-04-02), the cell just needs date formatting. Excel stores dates as numbers underneath — apply a date format to the cell and it will display correctly.
Use MAX in B9 for the latest overall date, XLOOKUP with -1 in B10 for Tesla's last order, and SUM in B11 for total sales.