How to format time (static) in Excel for Mac

Question

I’m trying to figure out how to format the way TIME shows in an Excel (for MacOS) sheet ...

I have a daily log that I enter at different times. With Cmd-; I get the time (static) inserted in Col.A

The format is hh:mm:ss AM/PM … I’d like it to read hh:mm AM/PM.

In other words, I don’t care for the seconds which always show up as 00. I don’t need seconds showing.

I tried looking under Format Cell but there’s nothing there that shows me how to do this.

If anyone can help me figure this out, that’ll be great.

I recognize that this is really just about asthetics - first-world problems. But I like my Excel sheets to look neat and be functional. :)

In the screenshot below, you can see the format for 5th and 6th Dec … this is how it appears. I have no idea how the entry for 7th Dec appears exactly the way I want it to appear!! ;)

I’ll be grateful for anyone who can unravel this mystery for me … just an old guy trying to figure this out!

Thanks.

Answer 1

Try a custom number format:

h:mm AM/PM

Select the time cells (your Column A or B).

Press ⌘ + 1 to open Format Cells.

Go to Number → Custom (at the bottom of the list).

In the Type field, enter:

h:mm AM/PM

Click OK.

This removes the “:00” seconds while still keeping AM/PM.

I gather you typed the original one manually, or Excel interpreted it as a time without seconds (e.g., you typed 2:43 PM). Excel automatically formats typed times using the shortest matching format, which is probably why it lost the seconds.

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hth

Marcin