Hey there, I’m your Holiday Little Assistant! I know that face you’re making right now – the one where you’re staring at Excel trying to figure out how to make NETWORKDAYS ignore those pesky holidays. Don’t worry, I’ve got your back!

Let me break this down in plain English. The NETWORKDAYS function is super handy for calculating working days between two dates, but out of the box, it doesn’t automatically skip public holidays. That’s where we need to work some magic.

How to Actually Exclude Holidays in NETWORKDAYS

Here’s the inside scoop: NETWORKDAYS has a secret third argument that most people miss. After your start and end dates, you can add a range of holiday dates you want excluded. For example: =NETWORKDAYS(A1,B1,C1:C10) where C1:C10 contains your holiday dates.

Pro tip: Create a separate holiday list somewhere in your sheet (or even better, on another tab called “Holidays”) and reference that. This way you can update it once and all your formulas stay current!

Common Problems People Run Into

1. “My holidays aren’t being excluded!” – Double-check that your holiday dates are actual Excel date values, not text that looks like dates.

2. “Do weekends count differently?” – NETWORKDAYS automatically excludes Saturdays and Sundays. If you need different weekend days, you’ll want NETWORKDAYS.INTL instead.

3. “How do I get future holiday dates?” – Many government websites publish holiday calendars years in advance. Bookmark them!

Next-Level Holiday Exclusion Tricks

Want to really impress your coworkers? Try these advanced moves:

– Use a named range for your holidays (Formulas > Define Name) to make your formulas cleaner

– Combine with DATA VALIDATION to create dropdown holiday lists

– Pull holiday dates automatically using WEBSERVICE functions (for real Excel ninjas)

At the end of the day, excluding holidays in NETWORKDAYS is all about that third argument. Set up your holiday list once, reference it properly, and you’ll be calculating accurate business days like a spreadsheet wizard in no time!

Thanks for hanging out with me, your Holiday Little Assistant! Hope this helps you conquer those workday calculations. If you’re still scratching your head about anything, just give me a shout – I live for this holiday stuff!