Summary

The Excel WORKDAY.INTL function returns a date before or after a given number of workdays. Unlike WORKDAY, it lets you define custom weekend patterns, which makes it useful for teams and regions that do not use the standard Saturday-Sunday schedule.

You can define weekends with either a numeric code such as 1, 7, or 11, or with a 7-character string such as "0000011". You can also exclude holidays by passing a range of holiday dates.

Syntax

=WORKDAY.INTL(start_date, days, [weekend], [holidays])

start_date is the date you begin from. days is the number of working days to move. Positive values move forward, negative values move backward, and zero returns the start date itself. The optional weekend argument defines which days are non-working days, and holidays lets you exclude extra dates such as public holidays or company shutdowns.

Arguments

• start_date - The starting date for the calculation.
• days - The number of workdays to move. Positive goes forward, negative goes backward.
• weekend - [optional] A weekend code or a 7-character string that marks non-working days.
• holidays - [optional] A range or array of dates to exclude from the workday count.

WORKDAY.INTL vs WORKDAY

These functions are closely related, but they are not equally flexible.

If the weekend is the normal Saturday-Sunday pattern, WORKDAY is usually enough. If the weekend pattern changes by country, department, or shift, WORKDAY.INTL is the better choice.

Using WORKDAY.INTL

There are two main ways to define the weekend. The first is with a numeric code. For example, 1 means Saturday and Sunday, 7 means Friday and Saturday, and 11 means Sunday only.

The second method is a 7-character weekend string. The string starts with Monday and ends with Sunday. A 1 means that day is a non-workday, and a 0 means it is a workday. For example, "0000011" means Saturday and Sunday are off. Microsoft also notes that "1111111" is invalid because every day would be marked as a weekend.

WORKDAY.INTL also supports holidays, which is important for realistic scheduling. Even if a day is normally a workday, it will be skipped if it appears in the holiday list. This makes the function useful for delivery dates, support SLAs, project planning, and staffing schedules.

Example 1 - Use a Sunday-Only Weekend

This example calculates a result date for a schedule where only Sunday is treated as a non-working day.

=WORKDAY.INTL("2026-01-01", 5, 11)

Weekend code 11 means Sunday only. This is useful for six-day workweeks where Saturday is still counted as a working day.

Example 2 - Use a Weekend String

A weekend string can be easier to read when you want to show the exact weekly pattern directly in the formula.

=WORKDAY.INTL("2026-01-01", 5, "0000011")

Because the string begins with Monday, "0000011" means Monday through Friday are working days and Saturday-Sunday are weekends.

Example 3 - Check Whether a Deadline Misses a Cutoff

WORKDAY.INTL can be part of a logical test, not just a displayed date result.

=WORKDAY.INTL(B1, 10, 1) > DATE(2026, 2, 1)

This returns TRUE or FALSE depending on whether the calculated deadline lands after the cutoff date. It is a useful pattern for SLA checks and deadline alerts.

Example 4 - Build a User-Friendly Shipping Label

You can wrap WORKDAY.INTL inside TEXT to format the result and combine it with other text.

="Ship: " & TEXT(WORKDAY.INTL(B1, 2, 1), "yyyy-mm-dd")

This is useful for dashboards, status messages, and customer-facing labels where you want the result to appear as readable text instead of a raw serial number.

Conclusion Recap

• Summary: WORKDAY.INTL returns a workday-based date using custom weekend rules.
• Main advantage: It handles non-standard weekends that WORKDAY cannot.
• Weekend options: Use either preset codes or a 7-character weekend string.
• Holiday support: You can exclude public holidays or company closure dates.
• Common uses: Scheduling, delivery dates, SLA deadlines, staffing, and project planning.
• Display tip: Format the result as a date, or wrap it with TEXT when building labels.