Please Note: This article is written for users of the following Microsoft Excel versions: 2007, 2010, 2013, 2016, 2019, 2021, and Excel in Microsoft 365. If you are using an earlier version (Excel 2003 or earlier), this tip may not work for you. For a version of this tip written specifically for earlier versions of Excel, click here: Formatting for Hundredths of Seconds.
Written by Allen Wyatt (last updated December 31, 2022)
This tip applies to Excel 2007, 2010, 2013, 2016, 2019, 2021, and Excel in Microsoft 365
Paolo wants to record times in an Excel workbook, but he needs the times to be precise, including hundredths of a second. What he would like is a format such as 1.41.73, meaning 1 minute, 41 seconds, and 73 hundredths.
This type of formatting can be easily applied to a cell in the following manner:
Figure 1. The Number tab of the Format Cells dialog box.
The format shows elapsed time, with hours, minutes, seconds, and hundredths of seconds. If you prefer, you can change what delimiters are used between each element of the time. For instance, if you want to use decimal points and drop off the hours, you can use the following format in step 6: mm.ss.00.
ExcelTips is your source for cost-effective Microsoft Excel training. This tip (7557) applies to Microsoft Excel 2007, 2010, 2013, 2016, 2019, 2021, and Excel in Microsoft 365. You can find a version of this tip for the older menu interface of Excel here: Formatting for Hundredths of Seconds.
Program Successfully in Excel! This guide will provide you with all the information you need to automate any task in Excel and save time and effort. Learn how to extend Excel's functionality with VBA to create solutions not possible with the standard features. Includes latest information for Excel 2024 and Microsoft 365. Check out Mastering Excel VBA Programming today!
If you need to change the color with which a particular cell is filled, the easier method is to use the Fill Color tool, ...
Discover MoreIf you want to format currency values so that Excel uses periods between groups of thousands and commas as a decimal ...
Discover MoreYou can spend a lot of time getting the formatting in your worksheets just right. If you want to protect an element of ...
Discover MoreFREE SERVICE: Get tips like this every week in ExcelTips, a free productivity newsletter. Enter your address and click "Subscribe."
There are currently no comments for this tip. (Be the first to leave your comment—just use the simple form above!)
Got a version of Excel that uses the ribbon interface (Excel 2007 or later)? This site is for you! If you use an earlier version of Excel, visit our ExcelTips site focusing on the menu interface.
FREE SERVICE: Get tips like this every week in ExcelTips, a free productivity newsletter. Enter your address and click "Subscribe."
Copyright © 2025 Sharon Parq Associates, Inc.
Please Note:
This article is written for users of the following Microsoft Excel versions: 2007, 2010, 2013, 2016, 2019, 2021, and Excel in Microsoft 365. If you are using an earlier version (Excel 2003 or earlier), this tip may not work for you. For a version of this tip written specifically for earlier versions of Excel, click here:
Comments