Please Note: This article is written for users of the following Microsoft Excel versions: 2007, 2010, and 2013. 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: Entering the Current Time.
Some people like to use Excel to keep track of the time that they work on different jobs. If you want a quick way to enter the current time, simply select a cell and press Ctrl+: (that's the colon). Obviously, to access the colon you need to hold down the Shift key, so some people might express this shortcut as Shift+Ctrl+:. The result is that Excel places the current system time in the selected cell. All you need to do is press Enter to accept the time.
ExcelTips is your source for cost-effective Microsoft Excel training. This tip (9544) applies to Microsoft Excel 2007, 2010, and 2013. You can find a version of this tip for the older menu interface of Excel here: Entering the Current Time.
Program Successfully in Excel! John Walkenbach's name is synonymous with excellence in deciphering complex technical topics. With this comprehensive guide, "Mr. Spreadsheet" shows how to maximize your Excel experience using professional spreadsheet application development tips from his own personal bookshelf. Check out Excel 2013 Power Programming with VBA today!
What do you do if a keypress you know worked correctly before all of a sudden stops working as you expect? This tip ...
Discover MoreWant to select only the formulas in your worksheet? It's easy to do using the Go To Special dialog box.
Discover MoreWhen you are developing a worksheet for others to use, you may want to have entries in a particular cell (or cells) be ...
Discover MoreFREE SERVICE: Get tips like this every week in ExcelTips, a free productivity newsletter. Enter your address and click "Subscribe."
2019-04-08 14:40:44
Ron
To enter both the current date and time, enter Ctrl+; then space then Shift+Ctrl+; then Enter.
Unfortunately, recording that as a macro doesn't work as hoped; it simply records the date/time as a constant ... it always uses the date/time of when you originally RECORDED the macro, not the date/time of when you RUN the macro.
For time stamping, what I do is select the desired cell and run the macro below that I have stored in my PERSONAL.XLSB.
Sub TimeStamp()
' TimeStamp Macro
' Inserts the current date and time and retains it as a fixed value down to the second
ActiveCell.FormulaR1C1 = "=NOW()" ' Inserts the NOW() function
Selection.Copy ' Copies that cell into the clipboard
Selection.PasteSpecial Paste:=xlPasteValues ' Pastes that value back in as a constant
Selection.NumberFormat = "m/d/yy h:mm" ' Formats it using my default formatting
Application.CutCopyMode = False ' Clears the copy state
End Sub
Note: you may want to edit the Selection.NumberFormat line to use your own preferred format. Or, if you normally paste into cells that are already formatted with various date/time formats, you would want to just comment out that line.
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 © 2019 Sharon Parq Associates, Inc.
Please Note:
This article is written for users of the following Microsoft Excel versions: 2007, 2010, and 2013. 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