Convert Time to Minutes and Vice Versa in Excel

How to convert a time into minutes in Excel and also how to get minutes back into a time format. For instance, change "2:30" into 150 since there are 150 minutes in 2 hours and 30 minutes; then I'll show you how to change it back from 150 to "2:30".

Sections:

Time to Minutes

Minutes to Time

Notes

Time to Minutes

Change a time format into minutes like this:

=A1*24*60

Result:

Make sure that the cell that contains the minutes is formatted as General and NOT as a date or time.

Minutes to Time

Change a time format into minutes like this:

=A2/24/60

Result:

Make sure that the cell that contains the time is formatted in a time format or you will see a decimal number.

For this example, right-click the cell (B2) and choose Format Cells and go to the Number tab and choose Custom and then h:mm from the list on the right.

Notes

Remember that time is stored as a decimal. This is why we can use simple math to calculate the total minutes from a time-formatted number.

To learn more about dates and times in Excel, check out our Date/Time Tutorials for Excel.

Make sure to download the attached file to work with these examples in Excel.