Excel.Tips.Net Welcome toExcel.Tips.Net

Helpful Links

Tips.Net Home
ExcelTips Home
Ask an Excel Question
Make a Comment

Tips.Net Store

ExcelTips FAQ
ExcelTips Premium

Learn Access Now
Free Printable Forms

Beauty Tips
Car Tips
Cleaning Tips
College Tips
Cooking Tips
Excel2007 Tips
ExcelTips
Family Tips
Gardening Tips
Health Tips
Home Tips
Legal Tips
Money Tips
Organizing Tips
Pest Tips
Pet Tips
Wedding Tips
Word2007 Tips
WordTips

Advertise on the
ExcelTips Site

Newest Tips

Removing Borders

Converting to Octal

Filtering Columns for Unique Values

Printing Multiple Worksheets on a Single Page

Changing the Default Font

Creating a Drawing Object

Determining a Value of a Cell

 

Working with Minutes

Summary: For many Excel users—particularly beginners—working with elapsed time can be bewildering. This tip explains how you can display and work with elapsed minutes in a workbook. (This tip works with Microsoft Excel 97, Excel 2000, Excel 2002, and Excel 2003.)

Some people use Excel to help keep track of elapsed time. This may sound like a rather esoteric use of Excel, but it is not, really. For instance, you may develop a time sheet. You enter a starting time in a cell, an ending time in another cell, and then calculate the elapsed time between the two by simply subtracting the starting time from the ending time.

If you use Excel in this way, you may have a need to display your results in just minutes, with no hours showing. You can do this in one of two ways. The first is to simply format the cell containing the aggregate of your elapsed times. Follow these steps:

  1. Select the cell in which you want your result displayed as minutes.
  2. Choose Cells from the Format menu. This displays the Format Cells dialog box, and the Number tab should be displayed. (Click here to see a related figure.)
  3. In the Category list (left side) choose Custom.
  4. In the Type box, enter the format as [mm], which consists of a left and right square bracket with two lowercase ms in the middle.
  5. Click on OK.

Your cell now contains only elapsed minutes. This is great for displaying results, but you may actually want a cell to literally contain a number representing the number of elapsed minutes. This need brings us to the second solution: simply multiply the aggregation cell by 1440 and format the result as a regular number (not as a date or time). This effectively takes a value out of the special date/time format maintained by Excel and puts it back into the realm of regular numbers.

ExcelTips is your source for cost-effective Microsoft Excel training. This tip (2820) applies to Microsoft Excel versions: 97 | 2000 | 2002 | 2003

Don't Go in Debt for Christmas! Tired of trying to keep up with the Joneses for Christmas? Want to enjoy the season rather than dread the aftermath? Learn how you can avoid the financial traps that spring up every Christmas.
 
Check out Top Fifteen Tips for Financing Christmas today!