I’m working with a Google Sheets document where I have time durations in cells formatted like 6:49:00. I need to convert these duration values into plain integers representing the total number of seconds.
When I try using the formula =C3*60, I get the correct calculation but the result still shows up in duration format (like 409:00:00) instead of just displaying the number 409.
How can I make the cell show only the numeric value without the time formatting? I want it to display as a regular integer rather than keeping the duration appearance.
try using =C3*86400 instead of *60 since thats how many seconds are in a day. google sheets stores time as decimal fractions of days so this should give you total seconds as regular number without formatting issues
The issue you’re encountering happens because Google Sheets maintains the time format even after multiplication. To get the raw numeric value, you need to explicitly format the cell as a number rather than duration. After entering your formula =C360, right-click on the result cell and select ‘Format cells’ then choose ‘Number’ or ‘Plain text’. Alternatively, you can go to Format > Number > Number from the menu bar. Another approach that works reliably is wrapping your formula with VALUE function like this: =VALUE(C360). This forces Google Sheets to return the numeric value without any time formatting. I’ve dealt with similar time conversion issues in my spreadsheets and found that Google Sheets can be stubborn about keeping time formats. The VALUE function method has been most consistent in my experience for getting clean integer outputs.