Don't get me wrong, I understand how it works.
I was simply trying to point out that when u use [ss] what you see is not in
a sense what you get.

J

"Ragdyer" wrote:

Formatting *only* changes the *display* of what the cell contains.
Your 01:00:00 cell contains *one hour*.

When you add 1 to it, what do you *think* that you are adding?
1 day- 1 hour - 1 minute - 1 second ? ? ?

On a new sheet, with 01:00:00 entered in A1, and formatted [ss].
In B1 enter:
=A1+1
You'll get 90000
Which means the 1 (to XL), means one day (8640 seconds), added to one hour
(3600 seconds).

My suggestion was aimed at strictly providing a *display* mode of seconds.
--
Regards,

RD

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"Jimbola" wrote in message
...
Ragdyer, The problem I find with this method is that you can't then do
calculation on that cell. For example a time interval of 01:00:00
formatted
as [ss] give you 3600 but then in another cell if you try adding 1 to it
you
get 1.04, instead of 3601.


J

"Ragdyer" wrote:

If the time column is in "true" XL recognizable time format as you
stated
(hh:mm:ss), then all you have to do is format your total cell, or even
each
individual cell (if you choose) to the custom format:
[ss]
The square brackets prevent the seconds from rolling over into minutes,
and
then over into hours.

You could also link your individual time cells to a separate column, and
format that column to [ss], so that you might have a displayed
comparison.
--
HTH,

RD


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"Ianukotnorth" wrote in message
...
I wish to compare the cost of telephone calls between various
telephone
service providers available to me.
I have downloaded a list of itemised call made by me from my present
provider and I wish to compare the cost of each call if I had used
alternative providers.

I'm OK with the basic mathematical formulae - but I need to convert a
"Call
Duration" in "hh:mm:ss" format to seconds.

(I could use the "Text to columns" facility and then multiply the "
Minutes
Column by 60 and the hours column by 360 - and add the three columns
together
but feel this is clumsy when there must be a "nicer - easier way)

Thanks for your help.

Ian M