Excel stores a time as a fraction of a day. Noon is 0.5. 6:00 AM is 0.25. Add that fraction to a date serial and you have a timestamp. Date functions (TODAY, DATE, DATEDIF) live in the date functions guide. This page is the time half.
NOW — current date and time
=NOW()
No arguments. Recalculates when the workbook does. TODAY() is the date only; NOW() is date plus time.
Format the cell as Time (Ctrl+1 → Time) if you only want the clock, or as a custom yyyy-mm-dd hh:mm for a full stamp.
TIME — build a clock from parts
=TIME(hour, minute, second)
- hour — 0–23 (24 wraps to the next day)
- minute — 0–59 (60 adds an hour)
- second — 0–59
HOUR, MINUTE, SECOND — split a time
=HOUR(B2)
=MINUTE(B2)
=SECOND(B2)
HOUR returns 0–23. 14:30 → 14 and 30. Nest them: =HOUR(NOW()) is the current hour.
Worked example
| A | B | Formula | Result |
| Hour | 14 | ||
| Minute | 30 | =TIME(A2,B2,0) | 14:30 |
| =HOUR(C2) | 14 | ||
| =MINUTE(C2) | 30 |
Date + time together
=DATE(2026,8,16)+TIME(14,30,0) is 16 Aug 2026 14:30. Or add NOW()'s time part to a date: =A2+MOD(NOW(),1). Practice TIME, NOW, HOUR, MINUTE →Date serials, TODAY, DATE, DATEDIF, DAYS: date functions and the Date Functions track.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the difference between NOW and TODAY?
TODAY is the date at midnight. NOW is date plus the current time. =NOW()-TODAY() is just the time of day.
Why does TIME show 0.385 instead of 9:15?
The cell is formatted as General. Ctrl+1 → Time. The underlying number is still a fraction of a day.
Can HOUR read a text value like "14:30"?
Usually yes — Excel coerces a time-looking string. If you get #VALUE!, wrap it: =HOUR(TIMEVALUE(A2)).