# Retrieving Time Elapsed values in HH:MM:SS format **URL:** \ **Category:** Product Suggestions\ **Created:** [August 1, 2024, 2:06am UTC](https://community.tulip.co/t/retrieving-time-elapsed-values-in-hhss-format/12099 "2024-08-01T02:06:33Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 5\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Preston](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/a587f6/32.png) [@Preston](https://community.tulip.co/u/Preston)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2024, 2:06am UTC](https://community.tulip.co/t/retrieving-time-elapsed-values-in-hhss-format/12099/1 "2024-08-01T02:06:33Z")
I’m packaging information in an expression for use with [Slack](https://support.tulip.co/docs/how-to-integrate-tulip-with-slack). Part of the payload is Time Elapsed On App. It seems that Time Elapsed On App outputs it’s value in milliseconds. I’m looking to export the value in a human-readable format, exactly the same as it’s displayed in-app. I’m not a huge fan of doing manual calculations in the expression editor. At present, I’m using the [INTERVAL\_TO\_SECONDS](https://support.tulip.co/r230/docs/full-list-of-expressions-in-the-app-editor) function, but would like to know if I’m missing a handy function that would provide the value in a HH:MM:SS-like format. ---
**Author:** ![Beth](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex020/user_avatar/community.tulip.co/beth/32/5987_2.png) [@Beth](https://community.tulip.co/u/Beth)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2024, 1:16pm UTC](https://community.tulip.co/t/retrieving-time-elapsed-values-in-hhss-format/12099/2 "2024-08-06T13:16:53Z")
Hi Preston! I believe that Interval to seconds is your best bet here, but I will check around to see if there are other options! As a side question for you, why are you not a fan of using expression editor for this type of thing? ---
**Author:** ![Preston](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/a587f6/32.png) [@Preston](https://community.tulip.co/u/Preston)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2024, 10:08pm UTC](https://community.tulip.co/t/retrieving-time-elapsed-values-in-hhss-format/12099/3 "2024-08-06T22:08:54Z")
Hi Beth! My issue isn’t inherently with the expression editor, just the effort it would take to convert the interval value into a HH:MM:SS format. For example, I can use INTERVAL\_TO\_SECONDS to get the time in seconds, but if I wanted to get it in MM:SS I would need to do something along the lines of ```auto floor(INTERVAL_TO_SECONDS(variable.timeElapsed)/60) + ':' + (INTERVAL_TO_SECONDS(variable.timeElapsed) - 60*floor(variable.timeElapsed/60)) ``` which isn’t ideal. As it’s displayed in-app in that format (rather than seconds/milliseconds), I was hoping there was an easier way to export it in that format (which already exists!). For reference, one of the intervals I’m tracking is app uptime, which is a value that could range from minutes to hours (to maybe even days). ---
**Author:** ![Beth](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex020/user_avatar/community.tulip.co/beth/32/5987_2.png) [@Beth](https://community.tulip.co/u/Beth)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2024, 1:32pm UTC](https://community.tulip.co/t/retrieving-time-elapsed-values-in-hhss-format/12099/4 "2024-08-08T13:32:13Z")
Okay I understand, that is a lot of work just to get it back into the format that it originally was in - I don’t know off the top of my head of another option but have a question out to some Tulip folks and will report back what I find! ---
**Author:** ![Beth](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex020/user_avatar/community.tulip.co/beth/32/5987_2.png) [@Beth](https://community.tulip.co/u/Beth)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2024, 1:58pm UTC](https://community.tulip.co/t/retrieving-time-elapsed-values-in-hhss-format/12099/5 "2024-08-12T13:58:29Z")
@Preston - I confirmed this is currently a limitation in the platform, but the Team is aware and we have an internal ticket to allow more flexibility in how time can be formatted and displayed. I will go ahead and change this to a Product Suggestion as well, so others in the community can vote for it!