How do I Convert Between Time Zones in Excel?

Do you need to convert a meeting time or conference call from one time zone to another? Excel can help. In this article, we’ll show you how to convert between time zones in Excel. We’ll look at how to convert a single cell, and how to apply the conversion to multiple cells at once. Let’s get started!


You can use the following formulas to convert a time in Excel from one time zone to another:

Method 1: Convert Time Zones by Subtracting Hours

=A2 - TIME(4, 0, 0)

This particular formula will convert the time in cell A2 to a time zone that is four hours behind it.

Method 2: Convert Time Zones by Adding Hours

=A2 + TIME(4, 0, 0)

This particular formula will convert the time in cell A2 to a time zone that is four hours ahead of it.

The following example show how to use these formulas in practice.

Example 1: Convert Time Zones by Subtracting Hours

Suppose we have a list of date and times in Excel that are currently in Eastern Standard Time but we would like to convert them to Pacific Standard Time:

Since Pacific Standard Time is four hours behind Eastern Standard Time, we can type the following formula into cell B2 to make this conversion:

=A2 - TIME(4, 0, 0)

We can then click and drag this formula down to each remaining cell in column B:

Excel convert between time zones

Column B now displays each datetime in column A in terms of Pacific Standard Time.

Notice that each datetime in column B is exactly four hours behind each datetime in column A.

Example 2: Convert Time Zones by Adding Hours

Suppose we have a list of date and times in Excel that are currently in Pacific Standard Time but we would like to convert them to Eastern Standard Time:

Since Eastern Standard Time is four hours ahead of Pacific Standard Time, we can type the following formula into cell B2 to make this conversion:

=A2 + TIME(4, 0, 0)

We can then click and drag this formula down to each remaining cell in column B:

Column B now displays each datetime in column A in terms of Eastern Standard Time.

Notice that each datetime in column B is exactly four hours ahead of each datetime in column A.

For example, if it is January 1st, 2023 at 2:15 AM in Pacific Standard Time then it is January 1st, 2022 at 6:15 AM in Eastern Standard Time.

Note #1: You can use this formula to convert any datetime to another time zone if you simply know the difference in hours between the two time zones.

Note #2: You can find the complete documentation for the TIME function in Excel .

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