Please Note: This article is written for users of the following Microsoft Excel versions: 97, 2000, 2002, and 2003. If you are using a later version (Excel 2007 or later), this tip may not work for you. For a version of this tip written specifically for later versions of Excel, click here: Inserting the Current Time with Seconds.

Inserting the Current Time with Seconds

Written by Allen Wyatt (last updated June 17, 2021)
This tip applies to Excel 97, 2000, 2002, and 2003


4

As you have learned in other ExcelTips, you can use Ctrl+: (that's a colon) to enter the current time into a cell. The resulting cell value is equal to the hours and minutes of the current time. In other words, the seconds will always be zero.

If you want to insert the current time and have it include the seconds, the best way is to use a macro. You can then assign the macro to a keyboard shortcut or a toolbar button (or both) so it can be immediately popped into place. The following macro will do the trick nicely:

Sub TimeStamp()
    ActiveCell.Value = Time
    ActiveCell.NumberFormat = "h:mm:ss AM/PM"
End Sub

Notice that the time is placed in the cell, and then the cell is formatted to show hours, minutes, and seconds.

Note:

If you would like to know how to use the macros described on this page (or on any other page on the ExcelTips sites), I've prepared a special page that includes helpful information. Click here to open that special page in a new browser tab.

ExcelTips is your source for cost-effective Microsoft Excel training. This tip (2012) applies to Microsoft Excel 97, 2000, 2002, and 2003. You can find a version of this tip for the ribbon interface of Excel (Excel 2007 and later) here: Inserting the Current Time with Seconds.

Author Bio

Allen Wyatt

With more than 50 non-fiction books and numerous magazine articles to his credit, Allen Wyatt is an internationally recognized author. He is president of Sharon Parq Associates, a computer and publishing services company. ...

MORE FROM ALLEN

Formatting Comments

Need to change the appearance of the text in your comments? It's easy to do using techniques you are already familiar with.

Discover More

Pasting a Comment into Your Document

When developing a document, you may end up with all sorts of comments that you need to deal with. One common task is to ...

Discover More

Unwanted Styles

Want to get rid of some styles in a document that you don't need any more? It can be a difficult thing to do, unless you ...

Discover More

Create Custom Apps with VBA! Discover how to extend the capabilities of Office 2013 (Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook, and Access) with VBA programming, using it for writing macros, automating Office applications, and creating custom applications. Check out Mastering VBA for Office 2013 today!

More ExcelTips (menu)

Tombstone Date Math

Doing math with dates is easy in Excel. Doing math with old dates, such as those you routinely encounter in genealogy, is ...

Discover More

Leap Years and Fiscal Periods

Need to figure out when a fiscal year ends when that period does not correspond to the calendar year? Here are some ways ...

Discover More

Determining the Day of the Month

Want to figure out the day of the month represented by a particular date? You can use the Day function in VBA to get the ...

Discover More
Subscribe

FREE SERVICE: Get tips like this every week in ExcelTips, a free productivity newsletter. Enter your address and click "Subscribe."

View most recent newsletter.

Comments

If you would like to add an image to your comment (not an avatar, but an image to help in making the point of your comment), include the characters [{fig}] (all 7 characters, in the sequence shown) in your comment text. You’ll be prompted to upload your image when you submit the comment. Maximum image size is 6Mpixels. Images larger than 600px wide or 1000px tall will be reduced. Up to three images may be included in a comment. All images are subject to review. Commenting privileges may be curtailed if inappropriate images are posted.

What is 7 - 5?

2018-11-29 09:56:26

Naresh

What is the short cut key to insert Time with sec in the excel.


2018-09-11 11:52:51

Rahul Yadav

Is there another way to do that in a normal workbook? Is there any specific formula available to do that?


2017-02-25 22:05:26

DandyLady777

OMG!!! Thank you for this solution. I searched high and low for this answer!!!


2016-12-10 05:42:41

Rick Rothstein

I am confused. When I run the macro without that NumberFormat line of code, the time still goes into the cell correctly, with the seconds, and the cell's format is changed to Custom "h:mm:ss AM/PM" automatically. I do not see why you thought you needed to manually format the cell via the macro. If it makes a difference, I am using XL2010 on Win 8.1.


This Site

Got a version of Excel that uses the menu interface (Excel 97, Excel 2000, Excel 2002, or Excel 2003)? This site is for you! If you use a later version of Excel, visit our ExcelTips site focusing on the ribbon interface.

Newest Tips
Subscribe

FREE SERVICE: Get tips like this every week in ExcelTips, a free productivity newsletter. Enter your address and click "Subscribe."

(Your e-mail address is not shared with anyone, ever.)

View the most recent newsletter.