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Excel is capable of converting time duration into seconds by using the TIME function. This function takes three separate parameters, hours, minutes, and seconds, and multiplies them by the number of seconds in their respective units. This will give you a total number of seconds for the time duration entered. Alternatively, you can also use the HOUR, MINUTE, and SECOND functions to convert the time duration into individual units, and then add them together to get total seconds.
You can use the following formula to convert a time duration to seconds in Excel:
=VALUE(B2*24*3600)
This particular formula converts the time duration in cell B2 to seconds.
For example, if the time is 10:14:22 then the formula will convert this to 36862 so that the time is represented as 36,862 seconds.
The following example shows how to use this formula in practice.
Example: Convert Time to Seconds in Excel
Suppose we have the following dataset in Excel that shows the number of hours, minutes, and seconds it took various athletes to finish a competition:
We can ensure that the values in the Duration column are formatted as durations by highlighting the range B2:B11, then clicking the Number Format dropdown, then clicking More Number Formats:
We can then click the Category on the left called Custom, then choose h:mm:ss, then click OK:
Next, we can use the following formula to convert the durations into seconds:
=VALUE(B2*24*3600)
We will type this formula into cell C2 and then click and drag the formula down to each remaining cell in column C:
The new Seconds column displays the time in the Duration column as seconds.
- A duration of 10 hours, 14 minutes, and 22 seconds is converted to 36,862 seconds.
- A duration of 26 hours, 14 minutes, and 22 seconds is converted to 94,462 seconds.
- A duration of 13 hours, 30 minutes, and 0 seconds is converted to 48,600 seconds.
And so on.
Note: In this formula we multiply the time durations by 24 hours in a day and then by 3,600 seconds in an hour allows us to convert time durations to seconds.