If you use an Excel spreadsheet to keep track of tasks and time associated with it, it’s cumbersome to constantly type in XX:YY.
Here is a short technique to format the cell so when I enter a time (0500), it will automatically convert it to 05:00.
To format a cell in Excel 2019 so that when you enter “0500”, it automatically converts to “05:00”, you can use a custom format. Here’s how to do it:
- Select the cell or range of cells where you want to apply this formatting.
- Right-click on the selected cell(s) and choose ‘Format Cells’ from the context menu.
- In the ‘Format Cells’ dialog box, go to the ‘Number’ tab.
- Choose ‘Custom’ from the category list.
- In the ‘Type’ field, enter the custom format:
00":"00. This format tells Excel to split the number into two pairs of digits, separated by a colon. - Click ‘OK’ to apply the formatting.
Now, when you enter a number like 0500 in the cell, it will automatically be displayed as 05:00. Note that this is a display format and the underlying value in the cell will still be 0500. This method is best for display purposes and won’t actually change the data into a time value. If you need to perform time calculations, you might need a different approach to convert the input into a proper time format.