Subtracting Times

My Account

Check out

Shopping Cart

JOIN OUR NEWSLETTER
and receive for joining:
	Free eBook Learn More!
	Free Excel ADD-IN
	Free Weekly Excel Tip








F1 eBook (Spanish)

» Subtracting Times

CATEGORY: Excel Date & Time Formulas

VERSIONS: All Microsoft Excel Versions

Problem:

Finding the interval between each pair of start and end times in columns A & B. An error occurs when the end time is "earlier" than the start time, resulting in a negative result.

Solution:

Use an IF statement to determine which of the two values is the "earliest", and then subtract accordingly:
=B2-A2+IF(A2>B2,1)

Example:

Time1___Time2____Result
10:00___17:00____7:00
17:00___9:00_____16:00
12:00___15:00____3:00

Screenshot // Subtracting Times

Rate this tip



1	2	3	4	5

RATING: 3.55
VIEWS: 28890

Email Tip

Print Tip

Add to My Tips

READER COMMENTS (view all comments)

wrote on December 31, 1969 18:00 EST

hi,

The formula does work well. However, if i have a situation of start time at 19:00pm and end time at 1:00am (past midnight). The result should be 6 hr but it return a value of 17. is there any formula to accommodate this?

subtracting times
neilmacm wrote on March 10, 2006 10:34 EST

Hope this helps with your problem.

=G10-F10+IF(F10>G10,24)

Calculation of total working times
Nam wrote on December 31, 1969 18:00 EST

Hi,

I have a problem when I do sums of hours for whole month. The number goes beyond 12 hours. What have I to do to have total number of working hours (biger number than 12). Thanks

292 wrote on December 31, 1969 18:00 EST

THIS IS GREAT, BUT NOW HOW DO I GET THE TOTAL HOURS FOR ONE WEEK? THE =SUM THING DOES NOT WORK (SORRY, JUST LEARNING ALL THIS...)

time
problem wrote on December 31, 1969 18:00 EST

hi...m trying to calculate flight times....
i have departing time from one city and i have to calculate the arrival time in another city....which means i have to take time zone difference in account...thanx a bunch

The Accounting Game : Basic Accounting Fresh from the Lemonade Stand

Marketing Plan: A Handbook with Marketing Plan

Lower Your Taxes - Big Time! : Wealth-Building, Tax Reduction Secrets from an IRS Insider

Financial Peace: Revisited

The One Page Business Plan: Start With a Vision, Build a Company!

RELATED MICROSOFT EXCEL TIPS

• Excel VBA books
• Accounting books
• Business Plans
• MS Office books
• Taxes books

VIEW ALL BOOKS

	Advertise With Us
Tips	Add-In in VBA \| Applications - Word, Outlook in VBA \| Array Formulas \| Cells, Ranges, Rows, and Columns in VBA \| Counting \| Custom Functions \| Custom Functions in VBA \| Database Formulas \| Database in VBA \| Date & Time Formulas \| Date & Time in VBA \| Events in VBA \| Excel 2003 \| Excel Chart \| Excel Consolidating \| Excel Counting \| Excel Custom Functions using VBA \| Excel Customizing \| Excel Data \| Excel Dates \| Excel Editing \| Excel Files \| Excel Filter \| Excel Format \| Excel Formula \| Excel General \| Excel Grouping and Outlining \| Excel Importing Text Files \| Excel Information \| Excel Keyboard Shortcuts \| Excel Loan Formulas \| Excel Macros - VBA \| Excel Pivot Tables \| Excel Printing \| Excel Range Name \| Excel Security - Protection \| Excel Sorting \| Excel Style \| Excel Subtotals \| Excel Summing \| Excel Text \| Excel Time \| Excel Tools \| Excel Worksheet, Workbook \| Files, Workbook, and Worksheets in VBA \| Financial Formulas \| Formating in VBA \| General Topics in VBA \| Import and Export in VBA \| Information Formulas \| Keyboard & Other Shortcuts in VBA \| Keyboard Formula Shortcuts \| Links between Worksheet and Workbooks \| Links in VBA \| Logical Formulas \| Lookup Formulas \| Mail - Send and Receive in VBA \| Menus, Toolbars, Status bar in VBA \| Modules, Class Modules in VBA \| Other Q&A Formulas \| Printing in VBA \| Protecting in VBA \| Summing \| Text Formulas \| User Forms, Input boxes in VBA \| Using Loops \| Working with Formulas \|
Tips by Version	Microsoft Excel 97 \| Microsoft Excel 2000 \| Microsoft Excel 2002 \| All Microsoft Excel Versions \| New in Excel 2002 \| New in Excel 2003 - Office 11
Website	Home \| Tip of Hour \| Recommended Tips \| Most Viewed Tips \| Tips by Version \| Submit a Tip \| My Tips Microsoft Excel Tutorials \| Excel Links \| Write for Us \| About Us \| Search Results \| Tip Archives \| Excel Forum \| Excel Forum Archives
Excel Book	Excel 97 Book \| Excel 2000 Book \| Excel 2002 Book \| Excel XP Book \| Book Store

Terms and Conditions of use The applications/code on this site are distributed as is and without warranties or liability. In no event shall the owner of the copyrights, or the authors of the applications/code be liable for any loss of profit, any problems or any damage resulting from the use or evaluation of the applications/code.
Copyright © 2003 ExcelTip.com Microsoft, Microsoft Excel is a U.S. registered trademark of Microsoft Corporation Site Developed By: Varien