# How to set stopwatch start and stop time: duration **URL:** \ **Category:** Ask for Help\ **Created:** [November 22, 2020, 11:38pm UTC](https://community.glideapps.com/t/how-to-set-stopwatch-start-and-stop-time-duration/18783 "2020-11-22T23:38:45Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 8\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Todd\_Lichtenwalter](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex002/user_avatar/community.glideapps.com/todd_lichtenwalter/32/12231_2.png) [@Todd\_Lichtenwalter](https://community.glideapps.com/u/Todd_Lichtenwalter)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 2020, 11:38pm UTC](https://community.glideapps.com/t/how-to-set-stopwatch-start-and-stop-time-duration/18783/1 "2020-11-22T23:38:45Z")
I see there is a place to put the start and end times. How would I write that? For example, I want a 5min stop watch. In the start time cell I am thinking it should be current time and ending time 5 min afterward, but not sure how to write those two times in the cells they are linked to in the sheet. ---
**Author:** ![Jeff\_Hager](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex002/user_avatar/community.glideapps.com/jeff_hager/32/43_2.png) [@Jeff\_Hager](https://community.glideapps.com/u/Jeff_Hager)\ **Post date:** [November 23, 2020, 1:10am UTC](https://community.glideapps.com/t/how-to-set-stopwatch-start-and-stop-time-duration/18783/2 "2020-11-23T01:10:37Z")
They are not really start and end times. It’s more of a placeholder column that works best with user specific columns. When you click on the Play button, the current time is stored in the Start Time column and Glide does some math behind the scenes to she the elapsed time from that saved time. When you click on Pause, the calculated duration is stored in the duration column. When you click on play, the new current time is stored in the Start Time column, and the calculated duration is added to the elapsed time. Clicking on Stop clears out both columns so it’s ready for the next time you click on Play. Technically you can manipulate the columns in other ways, but a countdown timer like you want wouldn’t work great. From what I’ve seen, countdown doesn’t look very good. ![image](https://us1.discourse-cdn.com/flex002/uploads/glideapps/original/3X/1/4/140fec1552ceddb45c00375daedbd1fcf6f5c082.png) ---
**Author:** ![SantiagoPerez](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex002/user_avatar/community.glideapps.com/santiagoperez/32/16807_2.png) [@SantiagoPerez](https://community.glideapps.com/u/SantiagoPerez)\ **Post date:** [November 23, 2020, 1:10am UTC](https://community.glideapps.com/t/how-to-set-stopwatch-start-and-stop-time-duration/18783/3 "2020-11-23T01:10:55Z")
I am not sure if this would help but the glide team made an app to showcase how it works. You can find it here and see if it would help you figure it out. > ---
**Author:** ![Todd\_Lichtenwalter](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex002/user_avatar/community.glideapps.com/todd_lichtenwalter/32/12231_2.png) [@Todd\_Lichtenwalter](https://community.glideapps.com/u/Todd_Lichtenwalter)\ **Post date:** [November 23, 2020, 1:43am UTC](https://community.glideapps.com/t/how-to-set-stopwatch-start-and-stop-time-duration/18783/4 "2020-11-23T01:43:42Z")
Ok, thanks for the intel. Yea, I have scenarios where the students need stopwatches to keep track of how long their gaming powers have left until they expire…but this is a good start. ---
**Author:** ![Todd\_Lichtenwalter](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex002/user_avatar/community.glideapps.com/todd_lichtenwalter/32/12231_2.png) [@Todd\_Lichtenwalter](https://community.glideapps.com/u/Todd_Lichtenwalter)\ **Post date:** [November 23, 2020, 1:44am UTC](https://community.glideapps.com/t/how-to-set-stopwatch-start-and-stop-time-duration/18783/5 "2020-11-23T01:44:32Z")
Sweet, thanks Santiago. I will check it out… ---
**Author:** ![Todd\_Lichtenwalter](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex002/user_avatar/community.glideapps.com/todd_lichtenwalter/32/12231_2.png) [@Todd\_Lichtenwalter](https://community.glideapps.com/u/Todd_Lichtenwalter)\ **Post date:** [November 23, 2020, 1:52am UTC](https://community.glideapps.com/t/how-to-set-stopwatch-start-and-stop-time-duration/18783/6 "2020-11-23T01:52:48Z")
Ahh that was awesome- I saw where they added free run tacker, that will work perfectly for the spaceship. Now the crew can time their flight times between destinations to calculate distance or speed. ---
**Author:** ![Jeff\_Hager](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex002/user_avatar/community.glideapps.com/jeff_hager/32/43_2.png) [@Jeff\_Hager](https://community.glideapps.com/u/Jeff_Hager)\ **Post date:** [November 23, 2020, 2:00am UTC](https://community.glideapps.com/t/how-to-set-stopwatch-start-and-stop-time-duration/18783/7 "2020-11-23T02:00:34Z")
If you don’t need “to the second” tracking of time like the stopwatch does, you can always obtain a future date time and do the duration math in a math column, then show it however you want. You can show the calculated duration on the screen, but it will most likely update every 5 or 10 seconds instead of “to the second”, like the stopwatch. ---
**Author:** ![Todd\_Lichtenwalter](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex002/user_avatar/community.glideapps.com/todd_lichtenwalter/32/12231_2.png) [@Todd\_Lichtenwalter](https://community.glideapps.com/u/Todd_Lichtenwalter)\ **Post date:** [November 23, 2020, 2:14am UTC](https://community.glideapps.com/t/how-to-set-stopwatch-start-and-stop-time-duration/18783/8 "2020-11-23T02:14:52Z")
Good to know, thank you, Jeff. I can tinker around with that approach.