Hours that add themselves up
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Time Duration Calculator
Find the hours and minutes between two times with the free calculator from TimeTac, whether you are checking a timesheet, billing a client or working out overtime.
Use the calculator to
- work out the hours between a start time and an end time
- cover shifts that run past midnight or across several days
- check a timesheet entry before it goes into payroll
- count the days left until a deadline or between two dates
Three steps
Step 1: Enter the start date and start time
Step 2: Enter the end date and end time
Step 3: Reset the values to start another calculation
For two times on the same day, leave the date fields empty and enter only the start and end time.
How to do it by hand.
Useful when no calculator is open, and a good check on any result you get from one.
Start with the 24-hour clock.
Write both times down, then drop AM and PM. Subtracting is far easier when every hour has its own number.
- 2:00 PM becomes 14:00
- 5:30 PM becomes 17:30
- Anything before noon stays as it is
Subtract the hours, then the minutes.
Take the start hour off the end hour, then do the same with the minutes. Put the two results back together and you have the duration.
- 17 minus 14 is 3 hours
- 30 minus 0 is 30 minutes
- From 2:00 PM to 5:30 PM is 3 hours and 30 minutes
Borrow an hour when the minutes will not go.
If the end minutes are smaller than the start minutes, move one hour across before you subtract. This is where most manual calculations go wrong.
- From 9:45 AM to 2:15 PM, take an hour off 14 to get 13, and add 60 to 15 to get 75
- 13 minus 9 is 4 hours, 75 minus 45 is 30 minutes
- The answer is 4 hours and 30 minutes
Frequently asked questions.
How many hours are between 8:30 and 4:30?
Eight hours. If a 30-minute break is unpaid, the working time is 7.5 hours.
How do you calculate hours between two times?
Subtract the start time from the end time, hours first and minutes second. Switching both times to the 24-hour clock first avoids mistakes around noon and midnight.
How do you work out hours across midnight?
Split the span in two. From 9:30 PM to 6:00 AM, that is 2.5 hours before midnight and 6 hours after, so 8.5 hours in total. With dates entered, the calculator does it for you.
How do you convert the result into decimal hours?
Divide the minutes by 60. Three hours and 30 minutes becomes 3.5, which is the format payroll and spreadsheets expect.
Can it calculate days between two dates?
Yes. Enter both dates with their times and the result covers days, hours and minutes.
