Entering Time data in excel in mm:ss format (without the leading 0: for the hours)

I want to enter time data into excel sheet in mm:ss format. The problem is - that although the cell format is mm:ss, if I enter the data like this:

12:33 the actual value stored is 12 hours and 33 min. if I want 12 min and 33 sec, I need to enter 0:12:33

Is there a way to make the cell accept 12:33 as mm:ss ?

Answer

Time is universally entered in Hours:Minutes:Seconds format, so you can't change this entry format. You can obviously change the display format, but unfortunately you'll need to abide by the entry format.