How to Use Excel to Calculate Total Time

1. Enter the starting date and time in cell A1 using the format 'month/day/year hour:minutes AM/PM.' For example, if your starting time is 7:15 a.m. on July 15, 2010, you would enter '7/15/2010 7:15 AM' in cell A1.
2. Enter the ending date and time in cell A2 using the format 'month/day/year hour:minutes AM/PM.' For example, if your ending time is 7:15 a.m. on July 17, 2010, you would enter '7/17/2010 7:15 AM' in cell A2.
3. Enter '=A2-A1' in cell A3 to find the number of days between the two times. Excel will automatically display the total time. In this example, Excel would automatically display '2.' If you want to convert to hours elapsed, multiply by 24. If you want to convert to minutes, multiply by 1,440.