Today I was contacted by a filmmaker friend that wanted to work out a way to calculate timecode within an Excel spreadsheet. Fortunately there are some great Macro’s out there that allow you to do just that, however the one I recommended is not terribly well documented, so I thought I would jot down some notes here.
The tool I recommended was Excel Time Code Extension by Matthias Bürcher. It hasn’t been updated since 1997, however it still works great, even on the later versions of Excel. Although there is some great documentation floating around on the Internet (this blog is probably the best resource – especially the comments), when I first downloaded it all I really wanted was a Installation Guide and an Example.
Here’s a crash course for Mac users out there – although the workflow is very similar for PC users. I tested this on MacOS 10.6.8 and Excel 2008.
1. Download the XLA script from here (I hope you don’t mind Matthias, but I’ve also mirrored it here – just in case your site ever goes down).
2. Unzip the download, and then drag the XLA file into Excel.

3. You will be presented with a Macro Warning – just click Open.

4. You will now be left with a blank Excel workbook. To activate the plugin, press Command+Option+T (Windows users can just press Control + T I’m told, although I haven’t tested it personally yet). In the bottom status bar you should see a message like the below to confirm that everything is working properly:

5. You can now start getting to work! Select the fields you want to use as timecode fields, then click Format > Style from the top menu bar.

6. Then select Time Code from the Style Name and click OK.

7. You can now enter timecode into the fields you selected previously. Enter it as a full number, without any spaces (for example 01013000). Excel will automatically format it nicely (i.e. 01:01:30:00).

8. With that complete, you can now start doing some calculations. For the purposes of this demonstration, let’s just add A1 and A2 together. There’s probably a much quicker way to do this, but the most reliable method I’ve found is to convert the timecode values to frames, do the calculations as frames, then convert the frames back to timecode at the end. So, in B1 let’s display the value of A1 as frames (at 25fps). To do this type:
=TCtoframes(A1,25)

9. And do the same for B2:
=TCtoframes(A2,25)

10. Now add B1 and B2 together:
=B1+B2

11. Now let’s use the cell A4 to show our final calculation. The first thing you need to do is change it to a timecode style (as per step five and six above), then you can enter the following calculation:
=framestoTC(B3,25)

12. And assuming everything was typed in correctly – you should now have your finished calculation!

There is a list of all the different functions you can use here, although there’s a more detailed explanation on the French page (which you can use Google Translator or similar to translate).
However, most functions don’t really need much explanation, so here’s a summary of what’s available:
- TCtoframes(TC,fps)
- framestoTC(frames,fps)
- TCplus(TC1,TC2,fps)
- TCminus(TC1,TC2,fps)
- TCmult(TC1,facteur,fps)
- TCdiv(TC1,facteur,fps)
- TCsum(TCref,fps)
- TCtrans(TC,fromfps,tofps)
- TCtofeet(TC,gauge,fps)
- feettoTC(feet,gauge,fps)
- TCtometer(TC,gauge,fps)
- metertoTC(meter,gauge,fps)
- timetoTC(intime)
- TCtotime(inTC)
- texttoTC(intext)
- TCtotext(inTC,fps)
- isTC(TC,fps)

Sep 28, 2011 - 02:47 PM
I keep getting stuck on TCminus(TC1,TC2,24). It gives me the error
Macro Error
Names cannot look like references
Macro error at cell [TC.XLA]TC source corr1!E2
Im just trying get a duration of a shot subtracting one time code from another. I’ve tried using colons, semi colons, without the FPS and with. All to no avail. Any ideas would be great!
Sep 28, 2011 - 03:20 PM
I would suggest just converting everything to frames first, doing the calculations, then convert back to FPS at the very end (as per the example I gave).
In your case, just follow the instructions on the blog, but at step 10, change the plus to a minus.
Hope that helps!
Best Regards, Chris!
Dec 08, 2011 - 09:31 PM
I’m losing my mind. I’m doing EVERYTHING you have written here – the exact order you have it written, I’m using EXCEL 2008 on OS 10.6 and it WILL NOT work…. It recognizes the functions(they list when I type in an equals sign), I’m pressing Comm Opt T, I see the website at the bottom … NOTHING?!
Am I retarded? I took computer programming in Engineering. I can’t be THAT stupid! What am I missing?
Dec 08, 2011 - 09:40 PM
We are also using Microsoft Excel 2008 on a Mac running 10.6.8 – so that shouldn’t be an issue.
If you followed the instructions exactly – then it should just work.
Try exiting Excel, then starting again. Make sure at Step 5 that you select ALL the cells you want to be used for timecode values.
Also, try downloading my example. It probably won’t actually work (as for some strange reason Excel won’t import the XLA script properly on sheets you don’t create yourself) – but you can use it to check that the syntax is the same.
Good luck!
Jan 06, 2012 - 11:54 AM
Hi thanks for the post it helps explain it a lot better than the website.
A question though… does anyone have a macro or port of this for Mac Pages ? I really do not want to go back to working in excel! Thanks for any updates and answers to my question.
Jan 06, 2012 - 08:22 PM
Unfortunately I don’t know of any similar solution for Pages. If you find one – please let me know!
Best Regards, Chris!
Oct 18, 2012 - 10:06 PM
Hi Chris, thanks so much for that, couldn’t get it going from the other sites’ instructions. However, I was wondering if you could double check a weird result I get. When I do a ‘TCminus’ (using 25 fps) on 07:21:01 minus 06:55:01 I get 2600 frames, which is obviously not right. 26 seconds yes, which equals 650 frames. Do you get this result too?? It worked fine for me with smaller intervals though.
May 04, 2013 - 03:02 PM
Hi Chris, I’m unable to get this to open with my version of Excel (Excel for Mac 2011, v14.0.0). When I drop the “TC.XLA”, a window pops up, and it says:
“Microsoft Excel 5.0/7.0 opening TC.XLA”
(with a progress bar under it)
However, nothing happens, b/c immediately, this window pops up:
“This file contains Visual Basic Macros. The macros that have been disabled. If you save it, the file will contain the Visual Basic project”
There’s an option to click OK, which I did, and then I get another window:
“This workbook contains defined names that conflict with valid cell references. To correct this issu, underscores (_) have been added to the defined names that conflict with the cell references. Conflicting names in XLM macro code have not been changed, and muc be corrected manually.”
Again, there’s an option to click OK, and when I do, the “Microsoft Excel 5.0/7.0 opening TC.XLA” window disappears, and then nothing happens.
So … basically, I can’t get it into my Excel. Any tips you can offer would be greatly appreciated. I have a list of thousands of shots (TC/in and TC/out), and I JUST found out that I need to indicate the duration of each shot. There HAS to be a way, but I can’t figure it out!! :(
May 04, 2013 - 05:26 PM
Hi Stefany,
Sorry – I’ve only tested this on MacOS 10.6.8 and Excel 2008.
Excel 2011 includes specific settings that help you control how users are notified about potentially unsafe macros. On the Excel menu, click Preferences. Under Sharing and Privacy, click Security, and then deselect the Warn before opening a file that contains macros check box, and see if that helps.
This should hopefully allow you to at least open the document. You then need to press Command+Option+T as per the instructions above for the scripts to activate.
However, if that doesn’t work – if you only want to calculate the duration between a start timecode and end timecode, and you have a consistent frame-rate, then you could quite easily put together a formula to do that.
This might be of some help:
http://www.renegrasser.com/393/time-codes-in-excel/
Good luck!
Best Regards, Chris!
May 05, 2013 - 06:53 AM
Chris –
Thank you so much for the quick response! I appreciate the help & will give this a try!
-Stefany
Aug 09, 2013 - 01:44 AM
This is magic. Thank you Chris for putting this together. It took me a couple of months trying to wrap my head around working with TC in Excel and looking at other suggestions. This is the one that works. Kudos to your source (Matthias) as well. Thank you again!
Jan 30, 2014 - 11:19 AM
Hi Chris!
I’m trying to use this macro, and I am able to get up to step 5 before it all falls apart. When I go to modify style, it won’t allow me to change the style name (it’s grayed out).
I’m using OSX10.9, Excel 2011 14.3.9. Any suggestions, or is the macro just not suited to the latest version of Excel? For the record, I also tried to use the formulas but they also do not work.
Any suggestions would be a major help …! Thanks :)
Jan 30, 2014 - 11:31 AM
I just did a quick test – it still seems to work fine on Excel 2011.
However, ignore steps 5 and 6 and instead highlight the cells you want to use, then select “Timecode” from the “Styles” tool bar drop down.
See: http://office.microsoft.com/en-au/mac-word-help/apply-change-create-or-delete-a-style-HA102928592.aspx
Hope this helps!
Feb 01, 2014 - 03:52 AM
Hi!
The macro worked perfectly for me until I saved the document and reopened it again. All formulas that worked before closing are giving me an error message if I try to drag them down and continue with my data calculations. If I re-enter the formula it works again. …weird.
Any advice?
Much appreciated! :)
Feb 01, 2014 - 12:58 PM
What version of Excel Victoria? Are you pressing COMMAND+OPTION+T after Excel first opens the document?
Feb 06, 2014 - 02:50 AM
Excel 2010. I pressed control+t (I’m using windows) when first launching the macro like it said in the description. Its strange, it only seems to malfunction when I save and close the file I’m working on. I save it as a Macro-Enabled Workbook. Still seems to throw it off…
Feb 06, 2014 - 09:28 AM
Sorry – I haven’t tested it on Excel 2010 on Windows.
Jun 09, 2014 - 09:36 PM
That is so cool……. Even I could get it to work. Much appreciated :-)
Sep 27, 2014 - 11:26 AM
Can I use this method to do the following:
Take my timecode and convert it into Frames. CHECK.
Use the frames to add or subtract a certain value to create a new framecount.
Convert the new framecount back to timecode.
Basically, I have an excel document with an entire film worth of subtitle timecode on — and the client went ahead and changed a logo at the front and the duration is different, therefore every single subtitle timecode after the change comes 1 second and 21 frames later than originally.
Is there a way for excel to take my original timecodes and create a column of new timecodes that are 1 second and 21 frames later?
Sep 27, 2014 - 12:38 PM
Absolutely! The above example should be all you need.
Sep 27, 2014 - 01:27 PM
Okay I’ll give it a go. Wasn’t sure which part was the part where I change the frame number from, say 10 frames to 25 frames (i.e, add 15 frames to all fields on excel)
Sep 28, 2014 - 03:44 AM
I can’t seem to paste a timecode value into the cell and it work. Does this method only work if you type the TC out like 01000122? If I paste 01:00:01:22 from a document where I already have TC written i just get the VALUE error.
Sep 29, 2014 - 01:19 PM
Hi Darren,
Sorry, unfortunately I don’t have Excel on me to double check the best way to tackle this.
Have you tried setting the existing timecode values in your spreadsheet to the “Timecode Style” as explained in the blog post? If that doesn’t work, you might have to do a “search and replace” to get rid of the existing colon’s before you change the style. This should only take a few clicks, and solve your issue.
FYI – you can also do calculations in Google Sheets: https://latenitefilms.com/blog/calculating-timecode-in-google-sheets/
Hope this helps!
Best Regards, Chris!
Oct 08, 2014 - 01:05 AM
Hi Chris,
I used to be able to use the TC extension and use all of the functions perfectly, but now for some reason it wont work?
I’m running on Excel For Mac 2011 14.2.0.
I’ve tried to start from scratch but on import of the macro initially I get a dialogue box giving me the following options – Enable Macros / Do Not Open / Disable Macros
I assume Enable Macros is the correct one?
I then get an error saying the following: ‘This Workbook contains defined names that conflict with valid cell references’
I hit ok and then start on the document. I hit CMD+Opt+T which shows the macro has loaded in the status bar. This is further clarified by the Timecode and Timecode DF styles appearing in the format window on the Home bar.
I then manually type in a 24 fps timecode into A1 and =TCtoFrames(A1,24) into A2, this then gives me a #VALUE? error
Any ideas?
Kind Regards
Ben
Oct 09, 2014 - 12:59 PM
Sorry Ben – I’m not sure. Have you tried re-downloading the Excel document and starting from scratch?
You could also try resetting the Excel preferences (http://support2.microsoft.com/kb/975724)?
Feb 26, 2015 - 03:51 AM
Hi Chris,
I’m having the same issues as Ben Mills except that when I hit” Command Option T” basically nothing happens. Timecode does not pop up as an option in the format/style menu. It basically seems like the macro has failed to copy over. I’m running 10.8.5 on this Mac and Excel 2011 v. 14.4.7
Mar 10, 2015 - 01:13 PM
Sorry for the detailed reply Tim. Unfortunately, I’m not sure what to suggest except to try trashing your Excel preferences.
Alternatively, you could always use Google Sheets instead?
See: https://latenitefilms.com/blog/calculating-timecode-in-google-sheets/
Oct 10, 2014 - 11:22 AM
This stopped working for me yesterday. Same as Ben – I get #VALUE! even after using this thing flawlessly all week. Column A is set to TC, and I put =TCtoframes(A1,24) into B1 and #VALUE!
I’ve reset preferences and downloaded a few new TC.XLAs from original and mirror site.
Dec 10, 2014 - 09:57 PM
I’ve tried using it again and still no joy……. I’m using an un updated version of office too! Really annoying as I have seen it work :(
Dec 10, 2014 - 10:05 PM
You could always use Google Sheets instead?
https://latenitefilms.com/blog/calculating-timecode-in-google-sheets/
Feb 06, 2015 - 11:43 AM
Hey Chris,
I am currently trying to convert TC into Frame count for over 800 different TCs. Is there a way I can use =TCtoframes but have it calculate all of the timecodes to frame count in one big go? For example something like this =TCtoframes(A1:A800,24)
So far I’ve had no luck doing it like that, however my knowledge in excel is limited. Any advice/wisdom?
Great work btw!
Alex
Feb 06, 2015 - 11:52 AM
Hi Alex,
I would just have the time code in one column, the ‘TCtoframes’ in the next column, then at the bottom of this column do a ‘SUM’ to add up all the frame numbers together. You can then convert that ‘SUM’ into timecode if you need to. This is pretty much exactly the same as my example.
You can easily drag formula’s across multiple rows and columns:
http://www.extendoffice.com/documents/excel/867-excel-apply-formula-to-entire-column-row.html
Good luck!
Best Regards, Chris!
Aug 26, 2015 - 04:29 PM
Hi Chris,
I’m not so familiar with Excel formulas, but the formula only worked for me when I put “;” instead of “,”.
So for me it does not work like this: =TCtoframes(A1,25)
It does work like this instead: =TCtoframes(A1;25)
I don’t know what’s the difference. Just wanted to leave a comment so it could maybe help anyone with the same problem.
Thank you for this post!
Jon
Aug 26, 2015 - 04:44 PM
Thanks Jon!