Displaying the Serial Number Behind the Time

In Excel date and time are saved as number, so in this article we’ll learn how we can see the number behind the date and time.

Convert time into number:

In a cell we enter current time by pressing the key Ctrl+Shift+;
Current time will appear in the cell

Now press the key Ctrl+`
To display the number behind time

Convert date into number:

In a cell we enter current date by pressing Ctrl+;
Current date will appear in the cell

Press the Ctrl+` to display the number behind the date

Note: In Excel time is saved in decimal values and date has started from 1-Jan-1900 as 1^st day. When we enter any date in Excel it calculates from 1-Jan-1900 till entered date in days and then returns the result.

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Mikael
August 26, 2013 at 8:42 am

"Hi MMooney,
If you have a cell, A1 that contains a number representing seconds (say, 12345), then the following will convert to days (Excel's native unit of time):
A2 =((A1/60)/60)/24 {=0.1428819444...}
In other words, approximately 14% of a day.
To display that answer in, say, hours:mins:seconds, you could apply the custom format:
[h]:mm:ss
which will now display as 3:25:45 or 3 hours, 25 mins, and 45 seconds.
Hope that helps,
Alan."

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Sam
August 26, 2013 at 8:42 am

What I'd like to do is convert integers (seconds) to time. Perhaps if there was a way to convert integers to serial numbers, then Excel would be able to format the numbers as time. Is there a way to convert integers to serial numbers?

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