Help with changing format into time and averaging

[ElleGee]

Hi,
I have been given a spreadsheet and I need to average the time in different categories and then graph it. I've got hundreds of rows of data so manually over typing it isnt an option. I've tried changing the cell format to h:mm, and to time but the average still comes up as #DIV/0!. This is what my data looks like:

Processed In store
DATE TIME DATE TIME
13/10/2011 5.23am 13/10/2011 8.18am
13/10/2011 5.18am 13/10/2011 8.18am
13/10/2011 5.19am 13/10/2011 8.19am
27/10/2011 5.35am 27/10/2011 8.59am

Everything is in different cells (i.e date, time, date, time..4 different columns). I cant even work out the time taken to process (i.e. 8.18am - 5.23am) because it just says #VALUE!...I dont know what format my data should be, and how to change it efficiently.

Not sure if any of this makes sense, but I would appreciate some pointers!

Thanks
Elle

[ConneXionLost]

To best describe or illustrate your problem you would be better off attaching a dummy workbook, the workbook should contain the same structure and some dummy data of the same type as the type you have in your real workbook - so, if a cell contains numbers & letters in this format abc-123 then that should be reflected in the dummy workbook. Don't upload a picture when you have a workbook question. None of us is inclined to recreate your data. Upload the workbook and manually add an 'after' situation so that we can see what you expect. In addition clearly explain how you get the results..
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[ElleGee]

Ok this is my data (I just copied and pasted it to a new workbook and removed the sensitive data)

What I need is the average of the times in column G, in each category, but first I need to change the format. But I dont know what format will work better and how to change it without losing any of my data.

[ConneXionLost]

Excel is recognizing your date entries, but not your time entries. Excel is treating them as text. One method is to use the TIME function:

=TIME(LEFT(G4,FIND(".",G4,1)-1),MID(G4,FIND(".",G4,1)+1,2),0)

You should then be able to average the results.

Cheers,

[ElleGee]

Thank you thank you thank you!!!

[bebo021999]

May I admend to fit "pm":
=TIME(LEFT(G4,FIND(".",G4,1)-1)+IF(RIGHT(G4,2)="am",0,12),MID(G4,FIND(".",G4,1)+1,2),0)

[ConneXionLost]

Thanks bebo, I'm too accustomed to using 24 hour format.

[bebo021999]

I attach my suggestion for your format. Average time will be placed for each category.