How to convert between date and Unix timestamp in Excel?

Unix timestamp is also called Epoch time or POSIX time which is wildly used in many operating systems or file formats. This tutorial is talking about the conversion between date and Unix timestamp in Excel.

Convert date to timestamp

Convert date and time to timestamp

Convert timestamp to date

More tutorials about datetime conversion...

Convert date to timestamp

To convert date to timestamp, a formula can work it out.

Select a blank cell, suppose Cell C2, and type this formula =(C2-DATE(1970,1,1))*86400 into it and press Enter key, if you need, you can apply a range with this formula by dragging the autofill handle. Now a range of date cells have been converted to Unix timestamps.

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Convert date and time to timestamp

There is a formula that can help you convert date and time to Unix timestamp.

1. Firstly, you need to type the Coordinated Universal Time into a cell, 1/1/1970. See screenshot:

2. Then type this formula =(A1-$C$1)*86400 into a cell, press Enter key, then if you need, drag the autofill handle to a range with this formula. See screenshot:

Tips: In the formula, A1 is the date and time cell, C1 is the coordinate universal time you typed.

Convert timestamp to date

If you have a list of timestamp needed to convert to date, you can do as below steps:

1. In a blank cell next to your timestamp list and type this formula =(((A1/60)/60)/24)+DATE(1970,1,1), press Enter key, then drag the auto fill handle to a range you need.

2. Then right click the cells used the formula, and select Format Cells from the context menu, then in the popping Format Cells dialog, under Number tab, click Date in the Category list, then select the date type in the right section.

3. Click OK, now you can see the Unix timestamps have been converted to dates.

Notes:

1. A1 indicates the timestamp cell you need.

2. This formula also can use to convert timestamp series to date and time, just format the result to the date and time format.

3. The above formula converts 10-digits number to a standard datetime, if you want to convert 11-digits number, or 13-digits number, or 16-digits number to a standard datetime in Excel, please use formula as below:

Convert 11-digits number to date: =A1/864000+DATE(1970,1,1)

Convert 13-digits number to date: =A1/86400000+DATE(1970,1,1)

Convert 16-digits number to date: =A1/86400000000+DATE(1970,1,1)

For different lengths of number which needed to be converted to datetime, just change the number of zeros of the divisor in the formula to correctly get the result.

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