Elapsed time cell format

Question

Elapsed time cell format

Paul Muehlebach 0

How do I format an Excel cell to display elapsed time?

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2 answers

Your answer

Answer 1

SD - IA 182.5K Independent Advisor

Hi,

Select the cell or range of cells you want to format.
Press Ctrl + 1 to open the Format Cells dialog box.
Select the Number tab.
Under Category, select Custom.
In the Type box, enter one of the following formats:

[h]:mm:ss – Displays elapsed hours, minutes, and seconds.
[h]:mm – Displays elapsed hours and minutes.
[m]:ss – Displays total elapsed minutes and seconds.

Click OK.

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I hope this information helps. If you have any more questions, don't hesitate to reach out. Wishing you good luck!

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Answer 2

Format the cell with the custom number format [h]:mm:ss so elapsed hours continue beyond 24 instead of resetting to zero.

Apply the format in Excel for Windows

Select the cell or range containing the elapsed time.
Press Ctrl+1 to open Format Cells.
Select Number → Custom.
In Type, enter one of these formats:
- [h]:mm:ss — total hours, minutes, and seconds, such as 27:15:30
- [h]:mm — total hours and minutes, such as 27:15
- [mm]:ss — total elapsed minutes and seconds
- [ss] — total elapsed seconds
Select OK.

The square brackets tell Excel to display the accumulated total rather than treating the result as a time of day. Microsoft documents [h]:mm for elapsed hours and [mm]:ss for elapsed minutes.^1^

For example, if A2 is the start time and B2 is the end time, use:

=B2-A2

Then apply [h]:mm:ss to the result cell.

If changing the format has no effect, the source values may be stored as text rather than valid Excel times. Formatting changes only how a numeric value is displayed; it does not convert text into a time value.

References

Format numbers as dates or times