The square bracket syntax tells Excel not to 'roll over' times greater than 24 hours. If total times may exceed 24 hours, use this format: :mm:ss
These are the number formats used in the example shown: mm:ss // split times To access and apply custom time formats, select the cell(s), then use Control + 1 (Command + 1 on a Mac), then Number > Custom. When working with times, you must take care to use a time format that makes sense to display times that represent durations. You can also add up times by using the autosum function to sum numbers. How Excel displays time depends on what number format is applied. How To Make A Formula To Subtract Time In Excel - start time + time (0, n. Internally, Excel tracks times as decimal numbers, where 1 hour = 1/24, 1 minute = 1/(24*60), and 1 second = 1/(24*60*60). If start and end times span midnight, you will need to adjust the formula as explained below. You must be sure that times are correctly entered in hh:mm:ss format. For example, to enter a time of 9 minutes, 3 seconds, type: 0:09:03Įxcel will show the time in the formula bar as 12:09:03 AM, but will record the time properly as a decimal value. To calculate the number of hours between two times, you can use a formula that subtracts the start time from the end time. However, you must take care to enter times with the right syntax and use a suitable time format to display results, as explained below. Excel times are fractional numbers. This means you can add times together with the SUM function to get total durations.
