PlanMaker HOUR Function: Syntax and Verified Time Examples

When you need to group entries into an hourly dispatch window, compare a shift-start hour, or build a 24-hour daily histogram, HOUR can extract the hour from actual time-valued cells. It does not preserve the date and it does not reveal how many hours elapsed across several days. If you need an exact chronological timestamp, keep the original datetime alongside the extracted component.

=HOUR(Time)

There is exactly one argument, so no argument-order ambiguity and no optional arguments or defaults. A cell reference such as A3 is not quoted; a text literal such as "12:34:56 AM" is quoted. The latter requires locale-aware parsing. This function does not accept separate hour, minute and second parameters—that is what the constructor TIME(Hour,Minute,Second) is for. The English manual uses comma-separated arguments for TIME; an installation may use a different formula-list separator depending on its settings. Official function page; TIME constructor.

PlanMaker stores times as numerical fractions of a day. To avoid ambiguous date strings, enter the formulas in column A below. The constructor TIME(Hour,Minute,Second) is described in SoftMaker’s TIME reference. Formula names and commas follow SoftMaker’s English documentation; if your installation uses semicolons for arguments, replace the separators accordingly. The displayed format may vary independently of the stored fraction. Format A2:A6 as hh:mm:ss if necessary. Do not type the visible time as a string.

Validation label: The component values above were independently calculated from 24-hour clock arithmetic with Python’s datetime.time; they are expected outputs, not observed PlanMaker results. Each constituent function is documented separately, but this complete sheet has not been opened in PlanMaker. If a locale uses another time display or formula separator, adapt presentation or separators rather than changing the intended numeric times. SoftMaker time entry documentation.

In B2 enter =HOUR(A2) and fill down through B6. The expected sequence is 0, 6, 12, 18, 23. For the most basic check, =HOUR(TIME(18,5,9)) is expected to be 18 by independent 24-hour-clock calculation. The numeric serial 0.75 denotes three quarters of a day, so =HOUR(0.75) is expected to be 18; Microsoft documents the same Excel example, but this exact expression was not executed in PlanMaker.

Advanced use: filter a shift window

In C3, with the time in A3, enter =AND(HOUR(A3)>=6,HOUR(A3)<14) to flag a 06:00–13:59 window. Expected TRUE for A3=06:45:12, FALSE for A5=18:05:09. This combines the officially documented HOUR and AND functions with independent Boolean arithmetic; PlanMaker did not execute it. The hour-only comparison is useful for a daily recurring window, but will not distinguish one day from another. A window crossing midnight, such as 22:00–06:00, needs =OR(HOUR(A3)>=22,HOUR(A3)<6) (expected FALSE for 06:45:12). Do not use the AND variant across midnight.

Advanced use: elapsed time versus a clock hour

Enter =TIME(23,0,0) in D2 and =TIME(1,0,0) in E2. HOUR(E2) represents the hour on a clock, expected 1. To calculate a two-hour overnight elapsed interval, explicitly add a day to the end time: =ROUND(((E2+1)-D2)*24,0) is independently expected 2. That correction is appropriate only when the end really occurs the next calendar day; with genuine timestamps including dates, subtract the full datetimes instead. Elapsed-hour formats using [h] are another option to display duration, not to make HOUR return totals. PlanMaker format codes.

SoftMaker’s official 2021, 2024 and 2026 manuals all explicitly show HOUR("12:34:56 AM") returning 12. The usual 24-hour interpretation of 12:34 AM is hour 0, and Microsoft’s Excel HOUR reference defines the hour range as 0 (midnight) through 23. The SoftMaker example therefore conflicts with conventional 24-hour interpretation. This guide reports the vendor example verbatim as a documentation claim, not as confirmed native application behavior. It must be tested in PlanMaker with a locale that accepts AM/PM before making interoperability promises. Prefer unambiguous numeric input such as TIME(0,34,56) for the separately calculated midnight test; do not assume this resolves the vendor discrepancy. SoftMaker 2026 example · Microsoft HOUR.

Important uncertainty: The brief function page does not supply a complete matrix of conversion/overflow/error-code rules. No #VALUE!, #NUM!, precision threshold or input coercion is promised without application execution. Regional parsing, saved file formats and the numeric time’s stored precision deserve manual testing.

Excel supports HOUR with HOUR(serial_number) and returns a 0–23 hour component. The same English function concept exists in PlanMaker 2021/2024/2026; that does not establish identical text parsing, internal serial-base handling, AM/PM behavior, or results for malformed arguments across every application edition. In particular, a documented PlanMaker AM example differs from Microsoft’s described midnight behavior (see discrepancy above). Windows/macOS/Linux are the English manual’s desktop family scope; no per-platform executable tests were made.

Official reference pages checked 2026-10-12 (UTC): PlanMaker 2026 HOUR, PlanMaker 2024 HOUR, and PlanMaker 2021 HOUR. The syntax printed on these three English manuals agrees. These are documentation checks, not proof that every installation and edition executes identical edge cases. More information: TIME constructor; regional cell entry; custom number formats. Excel HOUR reference was consulted as an interoperability reference, not a native test.

For adjacent components, refer to the official HOUR, MINUTE, SECOND and MILLISECONDS pages.

Verification summary: Official documentation and independent arithmetic were checked. Native PlanMaker and Excel execution, platform/edition behavior and workbook exchange remain untested.