Tom’s Tutorials For Excel: Summing Time

Tom’s Tutorials For Excel: Summing Time

In the pictures, the formula in cell B3 is =B2-B1 which returns the elapsed time in hours and minutes between the Start time and the End time. You want the visual value 6:45 (meaning six hours and forty-five minutes), but instead Excel gives you an elapsed time that looks like a time of day, in this example 6:45 AM.

Dates and times in Excel are numbers, so the underlying numeric value in cell B3 is in fact what you want. All that’s needed is to format cell B3 for the kind of appearance that makes visual sense.

Right-click cell B3, and select Format Cells as shown in the next picture.

In the Format Cells dialog box, take these steps as shown in the below picture:
(1) Select the Number tab.
(2) Select the Custom item in the Category pane.
(3) In the field pointed at by the red arrow, enter [h]:mm.
(4) Click the OK button.