The elapsed time format does not seem to work

S

Scott Milton

Is there a problem with the format codes mm:ss or
[mm]:ss? When I format a cell as mm:ss, and I type in
3:16 (for example), the cell value changes to 16:00 and I
see 3:16:00 AM in the formula bar. Am I missing something?

Thanks,
Scott
 
M

Myrna Larson

3:16 means 3 hours and 16 minutes to Excel. If you want 3 minutes and 16
seconds, you have to type 0:3:16. The cell formatting has nothing to do with
the requirements for entering times that Excel can recognize, and how it
parses them.
 
M

Myrna Larson

PS: If I type 3:16 in a cell, then set the format to [mm]:ss, I see 196:00,
not 16:00.

3:16 means 3 hours and 16 minutes to Excel. If you want 3 minutes and 16
seconds, you have to type 0:3:16. The cell formatting has nothing to do with
the requirements for entering times that Excel can recognize, and how it
parses them.

Is there a problem with the format codes mm:ss or
[mm]:ss? When I format a cell as mm:ss, and I type in
3:16 (for example), the cell value changes to 16:00 and I
see 3:16:00 AM in the formula bar. Am I missing something?

Thanks,
Scott
 
R

Ray

I have a similar problem. I'm trying to export a spreadsheet into a cycling
log program. All the elapsed times are displayed properly in the cells, but
in the formula bar they are displayed as a time of day. The only problem is
that any time that is less than 1 hour shows up in the formula bar as
12:xx:xx am and then when I import the spreadsheet the cycling program drops
the am and the elapsed time is now 12 hours instead of less than 1 hour.
I've tried formating the cells using every option available, but the elapsed
times always show up in the formula bar as the time of day. How can I
format the cells so that they are elapsed time and not the time of day?
Myrna Larson said:
3:16 means 3 hours and 16 minutes to Excel. If you want 3 minutes and 16
seconds, you have to type 0:3:16. The cell formatting has nothing to do with
the requirements for entering times that Excel can recognize, and how it
parses them.

Is there a problem with the format codes mm:ss or
[mm]:ss? When I format a cell as mm:ss, and I type in
3:16 (for example), the cell value changes to 16:00 and I
see 3:16:00 AM in the formula bar. Am I missing something?

Thanks,
Scott
 
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