How to custom format time?

Hi Nick,

What you are formatting is not "time", which in Numbers is the Time of day part of a Date and Time value marking a specific instant in time, but a Duration.

The format you want is this one:

To get it,

• Select the cell.
• Click the Format brush
• choose Cell
• In the Data format pop-up menu choose Duration
• Select Custom units, then select min, sec and ms

Caution: This is an ambiguous format which could be used for time (of day) or for duration.

Avoid using this format when entering Durations, as Numbers will often interpret the entry as a 'time' entry. When entering durations, try 0m 0s 000ms OR 0m 0.000s

Regards,

Barry

PS: Regarding "One thing I do miss is Excel..finding Numbers not as intuitive or easy to work with"

I've often noticed that "not as intuitive" just means "not what I'm used to." I have the same reaction anytime I use one of the MS Office applications—I don't use the regularly, so I find them less 'intuitive' (read"familiar") than the Mac user interface and the Mac applications that I do use regularly.

B.

Read this Apple Knowledge Base article on how to create a custom cell format. Scroll down to the section on time.

Numbers for Mac: Create a custom cell format in Numbers

Hi Nick,

Do the data refer to times of day or durations of time? Numbers can format Durations as weeks, days, hours, minutes, seconds, milliseconds.

More information on your overall aim, plus a screen shot of some anonymous data from your Office document will lead to a solution 😉.

Regards,

Ian.

Hi Nick,

Note what you have selected as the source of the y values to be charted (cells B2:B11)

Note what you have selected as the source of the x values to be charted (cell A5 )

Note the labels on the x axis of your chart.

Numbers has made avaliant attempt to chart the data you have supplied (one x value, five y values, none of which is paired with the single x value supplied).

There is a single data point charted at x=Oct 28, 2017, y= 01:54.190

I've no explanation how Numbers derived that y value.

Here's the scatter chart constructed using a table with the same values, but with all non-headed cells in column A selected as the x values and all non-header cells in column B selected as the paired y values.

I've made one change to the chart produced—decreasing its height for a better fit here. Other than that, it's shown as it was created by Numbers.

Regards,

Barry