Date & Time
TIME function: build valid clock times from hour, minute, and second columns
Assemble numeric hour, minute, and second fields into spreadsheet time fractions with TIME, including automatic 60-minute rollover.
How spreadsheet time fractions work
Spreadsheets store clock times as fractions of a 24-hour day: 06:00 is 0.25, 12:00 is 0.5, and 14:30 is 14.5 / 24 = 0.604167. TIME(hour, minute, second) builds that exact fraction from separate numeric columns.
TIME also rolls overflow minutes and seconds cleanly: TIME(9, 90, 0) automatically normalizes to 10:30 (HOUR = 10, MINUTE = 30).
| Hour (A) | Minute (B) | Second (C) | Decimal Hours (*24) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 14 | 30 | 0 | 14.5 |
| 9 | 90 | 0 | 10.5 (rolls to 10:30) |
Convert TIME output to decimal hours and roll minutes
Multiplying TIME(A2, B2, C2) by 24 turns 14:30:00 back into 14.5 billable decimal hours.
=ROUND(TIME(A2, B2, C2) * 24, 2)24-hour wrap and negative-unit guard
Hours >= 24 wrap modulo 24 (TIME(26, 15, 0) becomes 02:15, NOT a 26-hour duration—use hours/24 for >24h durations). Guard negative inputs with IF(MIN(A2:C2)<0, ...).
=IF(MIN(A2:C2)<0, "Invalid negative unit", ROUND(TIME(A2, B2, C2) * 24, 2))Try the example
Use the original values or change them to test your understanding.