Hey everyone, I’m having a weird problem with Google Sheets. I’m trying to input times, but the calendar keeps messing things up.
For example, when I type ‘1.12.523’ (meaning 1 hour, 12 minutes, 523 seconds), the calendar thinks I’m talking about a date and changes it to ‘December 1, 523’. This happens even though I’ve turned off all the autofill options I could find.
What’s even stranger is that this doesn’t happen with the built-in calendar feature. I’m really confused and don’t know how to fix this. Has anyone else run into this issue or know how to stop the calendar from interpreting my time inputs as dates? Any help would be awesome!
Thanks in advance,
A confused spreadsheet user
I’ve run into this exact problem, and it can be maddening! Here’s what worked for me: instead of using periods, try using colons to separate your time units. So, enter ‘1:12:52.3’ instead of ‘1.12.523’. This format is more commonly recognized as a time input by Google Sheets.
Another trick is to set the cell format explicitly to ‘Time’ before entering data. You can do this by selecting the cells, then going to Format > Number > Time. This tells Sheets to expect time inputs and can prevent those pesky date misinterpretations.
If you’re dealing with a lot of data, you might want to look into using Google Sheets’ TIMEVALUE function. It can convert text strings to proper time values, which might solve your issue on a larger scale.
Remember, consistency is key when working with time inputs in spreadsheets. Once you find a method that works, stick to it across your entire sheet for best results.
I’ve encountered this issue as well. A workaround I’ve found effective is to precede your time input with an apostrophe ('). So instead of typing 1.12.523, try '1.12.523. This tells Sheets to treat the entry as text, preventing the automatic date conversion. It’s not ideal, but it allows you to input times without the calendar interference. For a more permanent solution, you might want to consider using a script or add-on that can handle custom time formats more robustly. Hope this helps with your time-tracking dilemma!
yo, i’ve dealt with this before. it’s super annoying! try using a custom number format for those cells. go to Format > Number > More formats > More date and time formats. then use something like [h]:mm:ss.000 for your custom format. that should stop the date madness lol