Want to write formulas faster? Here is a quick tip.
Use Auto-correct!
That is right. Excel’s auto-correct feature can be setup to help you write formulas faster. See a demo below:
Here is how:
- Go to File > Options (in older versions, office button > options)
- Select Proofing
- Click on AutoCorrect Options
- Add auto correct rules for typing formulas like this:
- VL -> =VLOOKUP(
- SF -> =SUMIFS(
- etc.
- Done.
Now, whenever you type VL in a cell, Excel immediately puts the VLOOKUP formula and asks you for extra inputs. Same with other formulas you create.
Caution: Make sure you are not replacing any common 2/3 letter words. For example if you set up a rule to replace IN with =INDEX(, then you might get unexpected replacements when typing the word IN.
Additional tips:
- In case the replacement is not needed, press CTRL+Z to revert to original word.
- Replacement rules are case sensitive. So vl will not replaced by VLOOKUP, only VL will.
How do you speed up formula writing?
Often when running a class or demonstrating something in Excel, people ask me, “How come you are writing formulas so much faster?”. Here are the tricks I use,
- I use auto complete (that little drop down in cell with all formulas) as much as possible
- I use keyboard shortcuts to select ranges, names or access input values for the formulas
- I am good with typing.
What about you? What tricks & ideas do you use to type formulas faster? Please share in the comments area.
More on formula writing
Here are few more articles to help you write better formulas.
- Move the formula help box with mouse to see what you need
- Replace formulas with values
- Use CTRL+Enter to type same values or formulas into multiple cells
- Fill blank cells in a table with above value
- More on Excel formulas
PS: Thanks to John Long who taught me this tip.
13 Responses to “Convert fractional Excel time to hours & minutes [Quick tip]”
Hi Purna..
Again a great tip.. Its a great way to convert Fractional Time..
By the way.. Excel has two great and rarely used formula..
=DOLLARFR(7.8,60) and =DOLLARDE(7.48,60)
basically US Account person uses those to convert some currency denomination.. and we can use it to convert Year(i.e 3.11 Year = 3 year 11 month) and Week(6.5 week = 6 week 5 days), in the same manner...
This doesn't work for me. When applying the custom format of [h]:mm to 7.8 I get 187:12
Any ideas why?
@Jason
7.8 in Excel talk means 7.8 days
=7.8*24
=187.2 Hrs
=187 Hrs 12 Mins
If you follow Chandoo's instructions you will see that he divides the 7.8 by 24 to get it to a fraction of a day
Simple, assuming the fractional time is in cell A1,
Use below steps to convert it to hours & minutes:
1. In the target cell, write =A1/24
2. Select the target cell and press CTRL+1 to format it (you can also right click and select format cells)
3. Select Custom from “Number” tab and enter the code [h]:mm
4. Done!
Hi, sorry to point this out but Column C Header is misspelt 'Hours Palyed'
good one
So how do I go the other way and get hours and minutes to fractional time?
If you have 7.5 in cell A1,
- Use int(A1) to get the hours.
- Use mod(A1,1)*60 to get minutes.
If you have 7:30 (formatted as time) in A1
- Use hours(a1) to get hours
- Use minutes(a1) to get minutes.
I had the same issue. You can solve it by changing the format as described above:
Right click cell > Format Cells > (In Number tab) > Custom > Then enter the code [h]:mm
([hh]:mm and [hhh]:mm are nice too if you want to show leading zeros)
Thanks guys, these are the tips I'm looking for.
...dividing the number of minutes elapsed by the percent change is my task - "int" is the key this time
It doesnt work for greater than 24 hours
It returns 1:30 for 25.5 hours. It should have returned 25:30
Ideally I would right function as
=QUOTIENT(A1,1)&":"&MOD(A1,1)*60
Sorry, replied to wrong comment....
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I had the same issue. You can solve it by changing the format as described above:
Right click cell > Format Cells > (In Number tab) > Custom > Then enter the code [h]:mm
([hh]:mm and [hhh]:mm are nice too if you want to show leading zeros)
Clever use of MOD here to extract the decimal part of a number. Divide a number containing a decimal by 1 and return the remainder. Humm. Very clever.
Thanks very much, extremely useful !