How to Automatically Flag Overdue Projects in Excel Using IF and TODAY

Managing project deadlines manually can become difficult as your project list grows. A due date passes, a status isn't updated, and suddenly an important project is behind schedule without being noticed.

Fortunately, Excel can automatically identify overdue projects for you.

With a simple formula using the IF and TODAY functions, you can compare each project's due date with today's date and automatically display OVERDUE or ON TRACK.

In this tutorial, I'll show you how to set it up step by step.

Why Automatically Track Overdue Projects?

A project tracker should do more than store information. It should help you identify what needs your attention.

Instead of reviewing every due date manually, Excel can automatically highlight projects that have passed their deadline.

For example:

ProjectDue DateStatusTimelineWebsite RedesignSeptember 10In ProgressOVERDUEMonthly DashboardSeptember 25In ProgressON TRACKTraining PlanSeptember 30Not StartedON TRACK

As the date changes, Excel recalculates the result automatically.

That means you don't have to manually change a project from On Track to Overdue.

Step 1: Create Your Project Tracker

Start with a simple Excel table containing at least:

Project Name | Due Date | Status | Timeline

Your Due Date cells should contain actual Excel dates rather than dates stored as text.

For this example, let's assume:

B2 = Due Date

and we're putting our automatic project health result in D2.

Step 2: Enter the Overdue Project Formula

In the Timeline cell, enter:

=IF(B2<TODAY(),"OVERDUE","ON TRACK")

Press Enter.

Excel will compare the project's due date with today's date.

If the due date has already passed, Excel returns:

OVERDUE

Otherwise, it returns:

ON TRACK

How Does the Formula Work?

The formula contains two important Excel functions.

TODAY()

=TODAY()

TODAY returns the current date.

Because Excel recalculates the function, you don't need to manually enter today's date every day.

IF()

The IF function evaluates whether something is true or false.

Our formula asks Excel:

Is the project's due date earlier than today?

If the answer is yes, Excel returns OVERDUE.

If the answer is no, Excel returns ON TRACK.

That's what this formula does:

=IF(B2<TODAY(),"OVERDUE","ON TRACK")

Step 3: Don't Mark Completed Projects as Overdue

There is one problem with our first formula.

Imagine a project was due last week but was successfully completed.

We don't want Excel displaying OVERDUE simply because its due date has passed.

So let's improve the formula.

Assume:

B2 = Due Date
C2 = Project Status

Use:

=IF(C2="Completed","COMPLETED",IF(B2<TODAY(),"OVERDUE","ON TRACK"))

Now Excel checks the project's status first.

If the project is completed, it displays:

COMPLETED

Otherwise, Excel evaluates the deadline.

This gives us three useful results:

COMPLETED
OVERDUE
ON TRACK

Step 4: Handle Missing Due Dates

Real project trackers aren't always perfect.

Sometimes someone creates a project but forgets to enter the due date.

Without accounting for this, your formula may produce a misleading result.

We can improve it again:

=IF(B2="","NO DUE DATE",IF(C2="Completed","COMPLETED",IF(B2<TODAY(),"OVERDUE","ON TRACK")))

Now Excel can identify four situations:

ConditionResultNo deadline enteredNO DUE DATEProject completedCOMPLETEDDeadline passedOVERDUEDeadline hasn't passedON TRACK

This is much more useful for an actual project-management tracker.

Step 5: Identify Projects Due Soon

Knowing something is overdue is useful.

Knowing something is about to become overdue is even better.

Let's add another condition:

=IF(B2="","NO DUE DATE",IF(C2="Completed","COMPLETED",IF(B2<TODAY(),"OVERDUE",IF(B2<=TODAY()+7,"DUE IN 7 DAYS","ON TRACK"))))

Now your project tracker can automatically classify projects as:

OVERDUE

DUE IN 7 DAYS

ON TRACK

COMPLETED

NO DUE DATE

This gives project managers a much clearer picture of upcoming workload.

Step 6: Add Conditional Formatting

Now let's make the tracker easier to scan visually.

Select your Timeline column and go to:

Home → Conditional Formatting → Highlight Cells Rules → Text that Contains

Create formatting rules for your project statuses.

For example:

OVERDUE → red
DUE IN 7 DAYS → yellow
ON TRACK → green
COMPLETED → grey or green

Now instead of reading every project row individually, you can quickly identify which projects need attention.

Turn Your Tracker Into an Early-Warning System

This is where Excel project management becomes much more useful.

Instead of simply recording project information, your workbook begins identifying exceptions for you.

You can expand the same concept to identify:

Projects without assigned owners

Projects with missing deadlines

Projects that haven't been updated recently

Projects due within 7, 14 or 30 days

Projects that are overdue

Projects marked at risk

Projects exceeding their planned timeline

Once these indicators exist in your project tracker, they can also feed an Excel dashboard.

That allows managers and project teams to focus on the projects that actually require attention rather than reviewing every project manually.

Want the Complete Excel Project Management System?

If you don't want to build all of this from scratch, the Excel PMO Pro Toolkit provides a ready-to-use Excel project management system.

It includes:

Project Tracker
Project Dashboard
Gantt Chart
RAID Log
Action Items Tracker
Status Reporting

The toolkit is designed to help you manage projects, deadlines, risks, actions and reporting from one Excel-based system—without adding another monthly project-management software subscription.

→ Explore the Excel PMO Pro Toolkit

Need a Custom Excel Tracker or Dashboard?

Sometimes an off-the-shelf template isn't enough.

If your organization has its own reporting requirements, workflows, KPIs or project-management processes, ExcelAutomatePro can also create customized:

Excel dashboards
Project trackers
Automated reporting tools
Management dashboards
Workload trackers
Formula-driven Excel tools

→ Ask About a Custom Excel Solution

Final Thoughts

A small Excel formula can make a major difference in how you manage deadlines.

Instead of manually checking every project, Excel can automatically tell you:

What's overdue?
What's coming due?
What's missing information?
What needs my attention?

Start with:

=IF(B2<TODAY(),"OVERDUE","ON TRACK")

Then expand the logic as your project-management needs grow.

The goal isn't simply to maintain a spreadsheet.

It's to create an Excel project tracker that helps you identify problems before they become bigger problems.