Build a Task Tracker in Excel With Status and Due Dates

A task tracker in Excel is a simple list of tasks with an owner, a due date and a status, plus a few formulas that flag late work for you. With IF, TODAY, COUNTIF and one conditional formatting rule, the sheet shows what is overdue, what is due soon and how much is done, and it updates itself every day. This guide builds one step by step, for anyone who manages a small project, an event or their own workload.

What columns does a task tracker need?#

Start with four columns, one task per row. You can add more later, but these four drive every formula below:

The results in this guide assume today is 10 November 2026. In your own file, TODAY() returns the real date, so your results will change from day to day.

How to set up the list: table and status drop-down#

Two setup steps make the tracker reliable:

1. Make it a table. Click any cell in the list and press Ctrl+T (Mac: ⌘T), then OK. New rows you add at the bottom pick up the formulas and formatting automatically.
2. Add a Status drop-down. Select D2:D8, go to Data > Data Validation, choose List, and type Not started,In progress,Done as the source.

The drop-down matters more than it looks. Formulas compare text exactly, so "Done", "done." and "Finished" are three different statuses. A fixed list keeps everyone on the same three words. Prefer ticking boxes? The guide to checkboxes in Excel shows how to use TRUE/FALSE boxes instead.

How to flag overdue tasks with IF and TODAY#

A task is overdue when it is not done and its due date is before today. TODAY() returns today's date, and IF picks a label. In E2, type:

=IF(D2="Done","Done",IF(C2<TODAY(),"Overdue","On track"))

Read it from left to right: if the status is Done, show Done. Otherwise, if the due date is earlier than today, show Overdue. Otherwise, show On track. Fill it down to row 8.

On 10 November 2026, Book venue and Send invites show Overdue, the two finished tasks show Done, and the other three show On track. Checking Done first matters: without it, a task finished on time would turn Overdue the day after its due date. See the IF function guide and the TODAY function guide for the syntax, and the article on status formulas in Excel for more labels.

How to show the days left until each due date#

Dates in Excel are numbers, so the due date minus TODAY() gives the number of days left. In F2, type:

=IF(D2="Done","",C2-TODAY())

On 10 November, Order catering shows 2, Print badges 3 and Final walkthrough 6. Book venue shows -4, which means it is four days late. If you see a date instead of a number, change the cell format to General.

You can fold this into the label to warn about tasks due within three days:

=IF(D2="Done","Done",IF(C2<TODAY(),"Overdue",IF(C2-TODAY()<=3,"Due soon","On track")))

Now Order catering and Print badges show Due soon. The article on counting days until a deadline covers working days with NETWORKDAYS.

How to highlight late tasks with conditional formatting#

Conditional formatting colours a row when a rule is true, so late tasks jump out without reading the labels. To colour overdue rows red:

1. Select A2:D8.
2. Go to Home > Conditional Formatting > New Rule.
3. Choose Use a formula to determine which cells to format.
4. Type =AND($D2<>"Done",$C2<TODAY()), click Format, pick a light red fill, and click OK.

The $ before D and C locks the columns, so every cell in a row checks that row's status and due date. Add a second rule, =$D2="Done", with grey text to fade finished tasks. The guide to highlighting overdue dates shows more colour rules.

How to count tasks by status with COUNTIF#

COUNTIF counts the rows that match one value, which turns the list into a small summary:

The overdue count joins the operator "<" to TODAY() with &, because a function can't sit inside quotes. Format the share as a percentage: 2 of 7 is about 29%. The COUNTIF function guide lists more criteria examples.

Common task tracker mistakes#

Most broken trackers fail for one of these reasons:

• Due dates stored as text. A date typed as "Nov 12" from a paste may be text, and C2<TODAY() then gives the wrong answer. Real dates sit on the right of the cell by default.
• Status spelled differently. "done" still matches "Done", because COUNTIF and IF ignore capitals, but "Done " with a space or "Complete" does not. Use the drop-down.
• Typing today's date by hand. Ctrl+; (on Mac, also Control+;) enters a fixed date that never changes. Use TODAY() when the tracker should update itself.
• Forgetting the $ in the formatting rule. Without $D2, each column checks a different cell and the colours look random.

Once the tracker works, you can draw it as a Gantt-style chart. The guide to building a project timeline shows how.

Practise it#

Each piece of this tracker is a skill you can drill. Practise the IF function in a live spreadsheet: you type the formula and it checks it instantly. Then practise COUNTIF to build the status summary and practise conditional formatting to colour late rows. Or try the overdue-count exercise on this page first.