adding together minutes and seconds

[robw]

Hi, I am importing a list into Excel 97, the list contains tim
durations ex 1:33 and :20 and :10.

I want to add thes up (in the above example the answer would be 2:00
but it is not working when I use the sum function. I have looked a
other posts and tried what they have sugested but it stll does no
work.

I have attached the file it self the formula starts in column c
what AM i MISSING

Attachment filename: minutes.xls
Download attachment: http://www.excelforum.com/attachment.php?postid=53040

 

[Frank Kabel]

Hi
maybe your data is not stored as Excel time but as text. coulöd you
test this with
=ISNUMBER(A1)
if A1 stores one of your values. This should return 'True'

 

[robw]

i did the fomula and it is returning false, when I check the cel
format i made it custum mm:ss. If I change it to time i still ge
0:00 when I ad

 

[Frank Kabel]

Hi
so your data is stored as 'Text' and not as a time. Try the following:
- select an empty cell and copy it
- select your imported data range
-goto 'Edit - Paste Special' and choose 'Add' to convert the 'Text' to
real numbers/time values