Have you ever used Excel to record employee start and finish time? I know I tried it a long time ago and quickly became very frustrated because it would not display negative time. I tried everything and finally gave up in frustration.
Luckily I know some very smart folks who are much more proficient than I in MS Excel!
I learned the solution to this problem and now I will pass it along to you as well. So feel free to pass it along to anyone else who is frustrated!
The easiest method to resolve this issue is to change the date system used by your workbook. The default date system for for the Windows version of Excel is 1900 and if you use that date system, you will get ########## in your cell. If, however, you change to the 1904 date system which is the default for the Mac version of Excel, then you will see the correct negative time in your formula.
Follow the steps below to learn how:
- Click Office Button | Excel Options to display the Dialog box.
- Click Advanced.
- Scroll through the options until you see When Calculating This Workbook.
- Check the Use 1904 Date System.