How to Calculate Time Differences in Openoffice

OpenOffice Calc is a spreadsheet software similar to Microsoft Excel that stores and analyzes numerical data. Using OpenOffice Calc, you can calculate time differences by using a built-in function "DATEDIFF." This function can display the time difference in milliseconds, seconds, minutes, hours, days, months or years. Using this function is relatively simple and requires little knowledge about OpenOffice Calc.

Things You'll Need

• OpenOffice for PC or Mac

Instructions

1. Launch OpenOffice Calc and open a new file.

2. Click on a cell and type in "=DATEDIFF(" to begin the "DATEDIFF" function.

3. Choose the unit of time you wish to display the time difference in. This is referred to as the "string." The string 'ms' refers to milliseconds, 'ss' to seconds, 'mi' to minutes, 'hh' to hours, 'dd' to days, 'mm' to months, and 'yy' to years.

4. Type in the required data for the function. The data includes the "string," "datetime1," and "datetime2." "Datetime1" and "Datetime2" refers to the two times you wish to find the difference between. For instance, if you wish to find the time difference between 2010 March 01 and 2010 April 26 in terms of days, you would type "=DATEDIFF('dd','2010-03-01','2010-04-26')" in the cell.

5. Press the "Enter" key and the time difference should be displayed in the cell.

References

• OOoForum.org: Calculate Difference Between Two Date/Time Columns