Add Up Time (Total Time) in Excel & Google Sheets

Written by

Editorial Team

Reviewed by

Steve Rynearson

Last updated on August 15, 2023
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This tutorial will demonstrate how to add up time in Excel and Google Sheets.

Total Time Main Function

Add Total Time

You may have noticed that when you try to add up times in Excel that the time resets after 24 total hours:

Add Hours Time

If you convert the number format from hh:mm to General you’ll see that the time values add up properly:

Add Up Time

The issue is number formatting; change the time format from hh:mm to [h]:mm instead.

To change the number formatting, open the Format Cells Menu with the shortcut CTRL + 1 and change the time format:

time format excel

TEXT Function

You can also use the TEXT Function to display the total time as text:

=TEXT(D3,"[h]")&" hours and "&TEXT(D3,"mm")&" a minute"

Add Up Text

Google Sheets Total Time

All of the above examples work exactly the same in Google Sheets as in Excel:

Total Time in Google Sheets

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