Can you use the Time format without the AM/PM?

OK - I am trying to track data that keeps track of how long an event took.
For example - a typical data point would be customer hold times on the
phone. I would like to track that the Highest Hold time of the day was in
this format:

00:01:26

Which should represent that the hold time was 1 minute and 26 seconds.

No matter how I have tried to format this data, Excel is trying to interpret
this as the time of the day, not a length of time. So for Excel, it think
what I have entered is 12:01:26 AM. When in actuality - this could have
occurred at 9:00 AM or some other time of day.

I can get it to display without the AM/PM but Excel still interprets this as
actual time and not length of time.

That would be fine except I wish to then be able to graph this time over a
few quarters. and Excel is not doing what I want then.

Is there some way to force Excel to understand that this entry is not the
actual time but a length of time?

Thanks,

--
Glenn

Glen:

If you choose the "text" option under format cells, it will only display what you type in the cell. That will fix your AM/PM problem.

Let me know if this worked out your graphing problem too.

Pete

It shouldn't make any difference. Format it as you want it, then graph it,
Excel stores time as a fraction of one day.

--
HTH

Bob Phillips

"Glenn Mulno" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:%[email protected]...
> OK - I am trying to track data that keeps track of how long an event took.
> For example - a typical data point would be customer hold times on the
> phone. I would like to track that the Highest Hold time of the day was in
> this format:
>
> 00:01:26
>
> Which should represent that the hold time was 1 minute and 26 seconds.
>
> No matter how I have tried to format this data, Excel is trying to
interpret
> this as the time of the day, not a length of time. So for Excel, it think
> what I have entered is 12:01:26 AM. When in actuality - this could have
> occurred at 9:00 AM or some other time of day.
>
> I can get it to display without the AM/PM but Excel still interprets this
as
> actual time and not length of time.
>
> That would be fine except I wish to then be able to graph this time over a
> few quarters. and Excel is not doing what I want then.
>
> Is there some way to force Excel to understand that this entry is not the
> actual time but a length of time?
>
> Thanks,
>
> --
> Glenn
>
>

Hi Glenn

Format Cells>Number>Custom hh:mm

If you are summing these times, then the cell that holds the summation
formula will need to be formatted as [hh]:mm to allow the value to cycle
past 24 hours.

Regards

Roger Govier


Glenn Mulno wrote:
> OK - I am trying to track data that keeps track of how long an event took.
> For example - a typical data point would be customer hold times on the
> phone. I would like to track that the Highest Hold time of the day was in
> this format:
>
> 00:01:26
>
> Which should represent that the hold time was 1 minute and 26 seconds.
>
> No matter how I have tried to format this data, Excel is trying to interpret
> this as the time of the day, not a length of time. So for Excel, it think
> what I have entered is 12:01:26 AM. When in actuality - this could have
> occurred at 9:00 AM or some other time of day.
>
> I can get it to display without the AM/PM but Excel still interprets this as
> actual time and not length of time.
>
> That would be fine except I wish to then be able to graph this time over a
> few quarters. and Excel is not doing what I want then.
>
> Is there some way to force Excel to understand that this entry is not the
> actual time but a length of time?
>
> Thanks,
>