formatting to have minutes > 59

[Fatted]

I'm opening a HTML file (containing a table) in Excel 2002. The file
opens ok, but I have a problem with formatting a column which has
minutes and seconds only, but that the minutes can be greater than 60.
E.G
the html file has values for this field of say:
1278:00
02:38
82:01
(in other words 1278 minutes and 32 seconds, 2 minutes and 38 seconds,...)

However Excel displays this as:

1278:00:00
2:38
82:01:00

I think Excel is assuming that if the number is > 60 then it can't be
minutes so it must be hours, and therefore the field is HHHH:MM:SS.
When I try to format the cells, (say change column type to general)
Excel then decides to convert hours into days. So for instance for
1278:00, becomes 53.25 !

I've tried playing with the custom format, but I'm not getting anywhere.
Anyone any ideas?

 

[Andy B]

Hi

Try putting square brackets around the minutes in your custom format:
[mm]:ss

 

[Frank Kabel]

Hi
use the custom format
[mm]:ss

 

[Andy B]

Having re-read your post, I reckon you might need to multiply the initial
value by 60 - to turn it into minutes - and then use the custom format