How to Add Time in Google Sheets (Hours, Minutes, Seconds)

If you have worked with date and time in Google Sheets, then you already know how easy it is to add dates to an already existing date in a cell. For example, if you have the current date in a cell and you add 10 to it, it will give you the date of the day 10 days after the current date.

But how can you add time in Google Sheets? For example, if you have the date and time in a cell, and you want to know what will be after 4 hours or after 30 minutes. This can be done easily in Google Sheets with simple addition formulas.

In this tutorial, I will show you how to add time in Google Sheets (i.e., add hours, minutes, or seconds to an already existing date and timestamp).

So let’s get started!

Copy and paste formulas to add time in Google Sheets

If you just want the working formulas first, start here. You can use either method. I prefer the TIME function because it reads clearly, but the divide-by-24 method is useful to understand what Google Sheets is doing behind the scenes.

Add hours

• Recommended (TIME function):

  =A2+TIME(B2,0,0)

• Alternative (convert hours to days):

  =A2+B2/24

Add minutes

• Recommended (TIME function):

  =A2+TIME(0,B2,0)

• Alternative (convert minutes to days):

  =A2+B2/(24*60)

Add seconds

• Recommended (TIME function):

  =A2+TIME(0,0,B2)

• Alternative (convert seconds to days):

  =A2+B2/(24*60*60)

Subtract time

• Subtract hours:

  =A2-TIME(B2,0,0)

• Subtract minutes:

  =A2-TIME(0,B2,0)

• Subtract seconds:

  =A2-TIME(0,0,B2)

Column-wide versions (no dragging)

If you want to apply this down an entire column without filling down, use ARRAYFORMULA. These versions also leave blanks as blanks.

• Add hours to timestamps in A2:A using hours in B2:B:

  =ARRAYFORMULA(IF(LEN(A2:A)=0, , A2:A+TIME(B2:B,0,0)))

• Add minutes to timestamps in A2:A using minutes in B2:B:

  =ARRAYFORMULA(IF(LEN(A2:A)=0, , A2:A+TIME(0,B2:B,0)))

How to add hours to date/time in Google Sheets

Suppose you have the dataset as shown below where you have the timestamp (which includes the date and time), and you want to add the number of hours in Column B. Here’s how to calculate time in Google Sheets.

Now, unlike when adding dates, you can not simply add hours to a timestamp in Google Sheets.

You need to ensure that the unit of both columns is the same. For example, if you add the value 3 to 10:00:00, it will not give you 1 PM (i.e., the value of time after 3 hours).

This is because when you add 3 to the time, it adds 3 days to the time to which it’s added. So when you have to add some hours, you need to make sure the number actually represents hours and not days.

For example, 24 hours would be 1 day, 12 hours would be 0.5 days, and so on.

Hence, when you have the time in hours, you must divide it by 24 to get the correct value. This value can then be added to a timestamp with the day and time.

Below is the formula that will give you the correct Google Sheets elapsed time when you have added hours in Column B with the time in Column A.

=A2+B2/24

In the above formula, I have divided the value in Column B with 24 to convert it to hours, as that is what I have in Column A.

If you prefer a formula that reads more like plain English, you can also use TIME. This does the same thing, it just makes the unit obvious.

=A2+TIME(B2,0,0)

While this formula works, there is one thing you need to remember. When you add time, it may change the day, resulting in the value showing the time of the next day. For example, if you add 20 hours (which would be 20/24) to 10:00:00, it would give you 6:00:00, which is the time after 20 hours the next day.

How to add time in Google Sheets in 24 hour format

In case you add hours where the total is more than 24 hours, you will notice that the result will not show you the overall total number of hours that exceed 24 hours.

Rather, it will show you the time that’s in excess of the 24 hours (as shown in the image below).

In case you want to show the total number of hours, you will have to change the formatting of the cell.

Below are the steps to change the cell formatting so the total number of hours is shown.

1. Select the cells you want to change the cell format.
2. Click the Format option in the menu.
3. Hover the cursor over the Number option.
4. Go to More formats and click Custom number format.

5. In the Custom number format dialog box, enter the following format: [hh]:mm:ss

6. Click Apply.

The above steps will format the numbers in the cells so that these will show the hours even when the total is more than 24 hours (as shown below in Column C).

Various methods to work with date and time in Google Sheets

Google Sheets is flexible with date and time, but it helps to understand what you’re working with first. A date-time value is stored as a number, the date is the whole number portion, and the time is the fractional portion. Once you understand that, you can choose the method that gives you the best accuracy and clarity for your situation.

Below are a few extra methods you can use, including cases where you have a specific date, a given time, the current time, or a text-based timestamp that needs to be split.

INT function

The INT function is one of the cleanest ways to extract a specific date from a date-time value. If A2 contains a date and time, INT returns only the date portion.

=INT(A2)

This is especially useful when you want a specific date for reporting, grouping, or filtering, but you do not want the time included.

If you want to build a timestamp from a specific date and a given time, you can add them together. For example, if A2 is a specific date and B2 is a given time:

=A2+B2

And if you need to add a specific number of hours to a timestamp (for example, schedule something after a given time), this is still the same logic you saw earlier:

=A2+TIME(B2,0,0)

TEXT function

The TEXT function does not change the underlying value, it changes how the value is displayed as text. This is mainly about presentation, accuracy and clarity in dashboards, reports, and exports.

For example, if you want a timestamp to display in a clear format:

=TEXT(A2,"yyyy-mm-dd hh:mm:ss")

If you want to display only the time portion, especially when you’re comparing specific times across rows:

=TEXT(A2,"hh:mm:ss")

One important note for accuracy: TEXT returns a text result. That’s fine for labels and reporting, but if you need to calculate with the result, keep the original date-time value and format the cell instead.

SPLIT function

SPLIT is useful when your “timestamp” is actually stored as text, and it follows a consistent pattern. For example, if A2 contains a text value like:

2026-01-09 14:30:00

You can split it into separate date and time pieces using a space delimiter:

=SPLIT(A2," ")

This returns two columns: the date part and the time part. From there, you can convert them into real date and time values if needed:

=DATEVALUE(INDEX(SPLIT(A2," "),1)) + TIMEVALUE(INDEX(SPLIT(A2," "),2))

SPLIT is a good option when you’re dealing with imported data. For clarity, I still prefer using real date-time values whenever possible, because formulas behave more predictably.

Keyboard shortcuts

If your goal is to insert the current time or today’s date quickly, keyboard shortcuts are the fastest method. These insert static values (they do not keep updating like NOW()). The time they insert is based on your spreadsheet settings, including the default time zone.

• Insert current date: Ctrl + ; (Windows/Chromebook) or Cmd + ; (Mac)
• Insert current time: Ctrl + Shift + ; (Windows/Chromebook) or Cmd + Shift + ; (Mac)

If you need a value that updates continuously (instead of a static value), use NOW() for current date-time or TODAY() for the current date. Then apply the add-time methods above to get a result after a specific number of hours from the current time.

Adding minutes to date/time in Google Sheets

Just like adding time in hours in Google Sheets, you can also add minutes as well. Again, you need to ensure that the time unit of the values being added is the same, which is minutes.

Suppose you have a dataset, as shown below, and you want to add time in Column B to the values in Column A.

Below is the formula that will do this.

=A2+B2/(24*60)

The above formula converts the value in Column B into minutes by dividing it by (24*60).

Alternatively, you can use TIME, which makes the unit easier to read:

=A2+TIME(0,B2,0)

Adding seconds to date/time in Google Sheets

And again, just like adding hours and minutes, you can also add seconds to the time. Here, you need to make sure that the time unit of the added values is the same, which is seconds.

Suppose you have a time dataset, as shown below, and you want to add the seconds in Column B to the time in Column A.

Below is the formula that will do this.

=A2+B2/(24*60*60)

In the above formula, I have converted the value in Column B into seconds by dividing it by (24*60*60).

Another way to do this is by using the TIME function.

=A2+TIME(0,0,B2)

How to sum time in Google Sheets

You can perform the same operation using the SUM function. The most important thing to note when doing this is that your values must be in the time format or Google Sheets duration format if you’re dealing with durations.

Let’s look at an example sheet below.

The first step would be to ensure that the format for the time is in duration. To do this, we:

1. Select the time column.
2. Go to Format > Number.
3. Choose Duration.

Now, we can use the SUM function to add up the amount of time it took to complete all the tasks.

We will use the formula:

=SUM(B2:B6)

You will notice that the formula will automatically convert the excess seconds into minutes and minutes into hours.

Google Sheets subtract time

How to find the difference between two specified times

Just like we have added time in these examples, you can also get the Google spreadsheet time difference (change the addition operator with the subtraction operator in the formulas).

Let’s look at our example below.

We can get the duration by subtracting the start time from the end time. Just like adding time in Google Sheets, all we need to use is the minus sign (-).

We will use the formula:

=B2-A2

This will give us the duration in the format hh:mm:ss. We can then copy the formula to the rest of the cells by clicking and dragging the square at the bottom right corner of the cell.

Google Sheets time formulas can be used to give you specific results. For example, if you wrap the formula above with the HOUR function, you will get the difference in hours between the two times. The same applies to MINUTE and SECOND functions.

Subtracting hours, minutes, or seconds from time

The easiest way to subtract hours, minutes, or seconds from time is by using the TIME function in the equation.

Let’s look at our example sheet below.

To get the difference in seconds in the time, we have used the formula:

=A2-TIME(0,0,B2)

If we were working with minutes, instead, we would put the cell reference in the middle like this:

=A2-TIME(0,B2,0)

For hours, we would put the cell reference first:

=A2-TIME(B2,0,0)

How to extract date and time from a full date-time record

Sometimes, your data may have the date and time in one cell in Google Sheets. In this case, it can be hard to work with it, especially if you want to separate the date and time for reporting or additional time calculations.

Extract date or time using formulas (no add-ons)

If your date and time are in a single cell (for example A2), you can extract the date or time with formulas:

• Extract the date:

  =INT(A2)

• Extract the time:

  =MOD(A2,1)

Just remember to format the date output as a date, and format the time output as time (or duration), depending on what you need.

Troubleshooting, if your timestamp behaves like text

If your “timestamp” won’t calculate correctly, it may be stored as text instead of a real date-time value. A quick way to check is to change the cell format to Date time. If nothing changes (or it stays left-aligned like plain text), it’s likely text.

In that case, you can try converting it using DATEVALUE and TIMEVALUE. If A2 contains a date and time in a recognizable format, you can use:

=DATEVALUE(A2)+TIMEVALUE(A2)

Once it converts, format the result as Date time, then run the add or subtract formulas above.

Using Power Tools add-on

If you want a click-based solution, you can download Power Tools from Google Workspace Marketplace. The Power Tools add-on contains a lot of functions, including a split date and time function.

Here’s how to split date and time using the Power Tools function:

1. Go to Extensions > Power Tools.
2. Click Start.
3. Choose Split.
4. Click Split date & time.
5. Choose your settings, then click Split.

This add-on will split the date and time for you and add headers for you. Now, you can perform Google Sheets time calculations without any problems.

Summing up

So, can you add time in Google Sheets? Yes. We’ve shown how to add time in Google Sheets (be it in hours, minutes, or seconds), including calculating formulas for both Google Sheets and how to add and subtract time.

I hope you found this tutorial useful. You can also check out how to calculate days between two dates. Alternatively, you may also want to consider taking a full Google Sheets course.

You can make a copy of our example time spreadsheet to follow along.