Re: [libreoffice-users] record durations, not time of day

At 18:44 31/07/2019 -0400, Eric Beversluis wrote:
> I want to enter numbers in Calc like 3:05 that stands for 3 minutes 
> and 5 seconds (duration), not for some time of day. How do I do this?

If you format your cells as Text, there is nothing to stop you 
entering 3:05 just as you say, and then to look at it and know it 
means three minutes and five seconds to you! Anything can stand for 
anything you want. But perhaps you want to enter values like this and 
have them internally represented in such a way that they can be 
calculated as time intervals in the normal way.

There are two issues here. One is the cell formatting to show a time 
value as you wish. That's easy: use [M]:SS. But you are also asking 
to modify the automatic recognition rules that edit what you type, so 
that 3:05 is edited to three minutes and five seconds. I don't see 
that you can do this: you would, in any case, be suppressing the 
usual form of editing to three hours and five minutes.

Some suggestions:

o Format a column as [M]:SS. Enter your values as 0:3:05 instead.

o Format a column (say A) as text. Enter your values as 3:05, as you 
desire. Format another column (say B) as [M]:SS. In the second column, enter
=VALUE("0:"&A1)
and fill this down the column. If you don't want the first column to 
show, you can hide it after data entry or tuck it away, perhaps on 
another sheet. If you don't want it to print, you can exclude it from 
a Print Range.

o As the previous technique, but instead of calculating values in 
another column, just use the VALUE() formula within the calculations 
you need to make on the values. (This will not be suitable in all cases.)

I trust this helps.

Brian Barker


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