When I type a time such as 5:30 PM or 17:30 in a cell, I want it to
display ambiguously as 5:30 without AM or PM. When I copy and paste
the cell elsewhere, I want Excel to know it's PM.

Excel doesn't seem to accommodate this simple alternate format. The
custom formatting I've tried seems to limit me to either a 24-hour
clock or AM/PM, as if someone thought that an ambiguous format would
have no possible use. (I could easily use colors or bold typeface
instead of showing AM/PM, for instance.)

Is there in fact some way to do this?

Dan Williams
danwPlanet