Shifts the set of dates in the current filter context by a given number of years, quarters, months or days, earlier or later. Prior-year comparisons are a typical use of this DAX time intelligence function.
Read more: Microsoft Learn
In the Ultra Transcenders books
Each book explains DATEADD in context, with comparison tables and the common traps.
Terms in this definition
- Set
Secret permission in Key Vault for writing secrets; some older material refers to it as Create.
- Filter context
Whenever DAX evaluates an expression, each column is limited to certain values by slicers, report filters, a visual's rows and columns, relationships and any filters coded in formulas. Measures always calculate under these limits; row context, by contrast, means the current row.
- EARLIER
Within nested DAX row contexts, lets an inner calculation read a column as it stood in an outer pass; EARLIEST jumps to the outermost. Most people now use variables, which read more clearly.
- DAX
Short for Data Analysis Expressions, the formula language you write measures, calculated columns and row-level security rules in, within tabular semantic models in Power BI, Excel Power Pivot or Analysis Services.
- Time intelligence
Covers DAX functions (TOTALYTD, DATEADD, SAMEPERIODLASTYEAR and others) that shift or accumulate filtered dates. Classic versions require a contiguous, marked date table; calendar-based versions, still in preview, rely on defined calendars.
Related terms
- PARALLELPERIOD
Moves the current dates back or forward by a set number of months, quarters or years and always gives whole periods. That distinguishes this DAX time intelligence function from DATEADD, which yields only the shifted part-range.
- SAMEPERIODLASTYEAR
Prior-year comparisons often wrap this inside CALCULATE: it takes whatever dates are currently filtered and moves them twelve months earlier, matching DATEADD with -1 YEAR.