Is there any way to make the time stop counting up in excel? - excel

Question

In my excel sheet I have the following code:
=IF(ISERROR(MATCH(D2,'Sheet 2'!A:A,0)),"",NOW())
This basically checks to see if the value in D2 matches any values in column A:A in sheet 2, and then populates the cell with a date and time with NOW().
My problem is the date and time is counting up because I am using the NOW() function whereas what I need is the date to, in a way, take a snapshot of the date or freeze the date. This table I am creating is acting like a log so I need the date to stay as it is when it is put into the cell.
Any help with this is much appreciated.

Answer 1

You could have this automatically run, if you paste it in the code behind your sheet (Where the range theCells is the column where the timestamps are going):
Private Sub Worksheet_Change(ByVal Target As Range)
Dim KeyCells As Range
' The variable KeyCells contains the cells that will
' cause an alert when they are changed.
Set KeyCells = Range("theCells")
If Not Application.Intersect(KeyCells, Range(Target.Address)) _
Is Nothing Then
If Range(Target.Address).Value <> "" Then
Range(Target.Address).Copy
Range(Target.Address).PasteSpecial xlPasteVaues
End If
End Sub

Answer 2

Ok so I solved it, In my VBA I have the following code which pretty much creates a log file when my button is clicked, it takes various information in different cells and populates it in the next defined available row:
Sub copylog()
Dim LastRow As Long, ws As Worksheet
Dim wt As Worksheet
Set ws = Sheets("Create Log")
Set wt = Sheets("PDF Creation")
LastRow = ws.Range("A" & Rows.Count).End(xlUp).Row + 1
ws.Range("A" & LastRow).Value = wt.Range("N11").Value
ws.Range("B" & LastRow).Value = wt.Range("N12").Value
ws.Range("C" & LastRow).Value = wt.Range("N13").Value
ws.Range("D" & LastRow).Value = wt.Range("N14").Value
ws.Range("E" & LastRow).Value = wt.Range("N15").Value
ws.Range("F" & LastRow).Value = wt.Range("N16").Value
ws.Range("G" & LastRow).Value = wt.Range("AT19").Value
ws.Range("H" & LastRow).Value = wt.Range("AT21").Value
ws.Range("I" & LastRow).Value = wt.Range("AT23").Value
ws.Range("J" & LastRow).Value = wt.Range("AT25").Value
ws.Range("K" & LastRow).Value = wt.Range("AT27").Value
ws.Range("L" & LastRow).Value = wt.Range("A2").Value
ws.Range("M" & LastRow).Value = Environ("Username")
End Sub
The code above will populate a table in the next available row, for example, the first line:
ws.Range("A" & LastRow).Value = wt.Range("N11").Value
This will take the value that populates N11 in the PDF create sheet and populate the next available row in column A in the create log sheet (using copy and paste).
The line that has fixed my time problem is the line:
ws.Range("L" & LastRow).Value = wt.Range("A2").Value
In cell A2, I have the NOW() function and the button copies and pastes it into the next available space in column L (copies and pastes as TEXT).