How do you display the Date and Time in the same cell with Excel? This step-by-step guide will explain:
- How does Excel understand a date? This is crucial to avoid mistakes 😱😱😱
- Change the Date Format. To display Date and Time in the same cell, you must create your own Date format.
When working with time-sensitive data in Excel, it's essential to understand the distinction between dates and hours.
- In Excel, an integer value (1, 2, 3, 45000) is a day. The first date in Excel is 01/01/1900.
- While an hour denotes a portion of a day, typically measured in fractions or as a 24-hour clock.
This distinction is crucial when displaying date and time together in a single cell.
Excel offers a solution through custom number formatting to effectively showcase both date and time within the same cell. Custom formats allow users to manipulate how data appears without altering its underlying value. Here's how you can achieve this:

1. Understanding the Difference Between a Date and an Hour:
- Date: In Excel, dates are typically represented as serial numbers. For instance, January 1, 1900, is represented as 1, and each subsequent day increments this value by 1.
- Hour: An hour in Excel is typically a fraction of a day. For instance, 0.5 denotes 12:00 PM (noon) since it's half a day.

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2. Using Custom Format to Display Date and Time:
Excel's custom number formats allow for versatile display options. To display both date and time in the same cell, you can create a custom format by following these steps:
- Select the cell or range of cells where you want to display the date and time.
- Navigate to the "Format Cells" option by right-clicking or using the ribbon menu.

- In the "Number" tab, choose "Custom" from the list on the left.
- In the "Type" field, enter the desired custom format. For example, to display both date and time, you can use the format
dd/mm/yyyy hh:mm:ss

- Click "OK" to apply the custom format.

Using this custom format, Excel will display the date and time together in the specified cell, providing a clear and concise representation of time-sensitive information.
Conclusion
- Displaying the date and time in the same Excel cell is possible if you create custom number formatting.
- Understanding the difference between dates and hours and leveraging custom formats empowers users to effectively present time-related data in their spreadsheets.