This is an easy way to quickly insert an absolute reference.We probably all know that we can use the =TODAY() or the =NOW() formula to enter a date into Excel. Use TODAY and NOW Functions To Insert An Excel Timestamp.Here is my formula which references the Totals row in the Groceries table in a separate. However, entering this data is usually done manually by the user and takes way too much time for us to Excel At Excel. So, under lots of circumstances, would you enter the date on a spreadsheet for an entry onto an invoice, a project plan, etc., and you would do this by entering the current date and time. As the formula is copied down column D, ROW () keeps. We want to start with 1, however, so we need to subtract 5, which yields 1.