To add hours to a time, divide the hours by 24 and add: =A1+(3/24) adds three hours. The TIME function does it without the arithmetic: =A1+TIME(3,0,0).
To subtract, use a minus sign. Two things to watch.
If the total passes midnight, plain addition rolls into the next day and displays only the time part — use =MOD(A1+(3/24),1) to wrap it, or format as [h]:mm if you want to see the full elapsed total past 24 hours.
And TIME’s hour argument caps at 32767 and rolls over above 23, so TIME(25,0,0) gives 1:00 AM rather than 25 hours — for large hour values the division method is the reliable one.
To add an hour value into a time value in Excel, you can use a simple and short formula where you need to specify the original time from a cell and the hour(s) value that you want to add after dividing it by the 24 (which are totals hours that we have in a day). The following example shows a time value in cell A1 (12:01 AM). And here you need to add 3 hours
Formula to Add Hours in a Time
Following steps that you can use to add an hour in a time:
- First, refer to the cell where you have the time value (A1 in our example).
- After that, enter the sum operator and type the starting parentheses.
- Next, enter the hour value you want to add to the original time.
- Now, enter a division operator and type 24, the total number of daily hours.
- Finally, type closing parentheses and hit enter to get the result value.
=A1+(3/24)The formula is quite simple. You must specify the original time hour value (divide it by 24).
[thrive_leads id=’112075′]Use Time Function to Add Time
You can also use the time function to add an hour to a time value. You can see this in the following formula.
You need to specify the original time, use the time function, and only specify the hour argument with the hours you want to add.
Written by
Puneet Gogia
Microsoft MVP — Excel · Founder, Excel Champs
Twelve years of teaching Excel, and a decade before that using it as a data analyst. Every tutorial here is written from a file I actually built.