In Excel you work with all kinds of data: numbers, percentages, fractions, words, currencies … You have to tell the program what kind of data it concerns and then you can apply operations. However, if you add up time, you still have to pay attention to get a reliable result.
Step 1: Cell properties
To enter a time value Excel To enter, click in a cell and enter a time value in the format hh: mm: ss, for example 7:45:00. After you have entered this value, select this and all other cells in which time stamps should appear and then open the Cell properties via the right mouse button. Use the tab Number and choose the category on the left Time. On the right you select the way in which the program should display the time.
Step 2: Subtract and add time
Suppose you have created a column with numbers of hours in this way that you have to add together to see how long in total was worked. Then you make sure that each cell has the property Time has got. In this example, we noted the start and end times, so in the third column we ask the difference between those two times. If you want to know the sum of the working time, a problem arises if the total is more than 24 hours. Just try adding 7:45, 8:15 and 8:05. The result looks like: 00:05:00
Step 3: Adjust properties
The explanation lies in the fact that Excel uses the 24-hour display by default and interprets the total, in this case 24:05 hours, as 24:00:05 and therefore displays 00:05:00 hours. To solve this, right-click on the cell where the total is calculated, so that you can see the Properties can open. This time select the tab again Number and choose the category there Adjusted. Then choose from the list below Type the option [u]: mm: ss. Finally, click OK to see the correct number of hours worked. Make sure you choose the correct option from the list of options. You should have the option with the square brackets before and after the hours.
