Formatting Cells in Microsoft Excel

In a Microsoft Excel worksheet, a single cell, or a

contiguous range of cells, can be formatted in a variety of
ways in order to specify exactly how the cells contents
should display (e.g. currency, percent) and what they
should look like (e.g. font, color).
This Keynote Support tutorial first provides some important
information about cells formats, and then covers in detail
the Format Cells window and the six formatting category tabs
of: Number, Alignment, Font, Border, Fill, and Protection.

Now - let's begin discussing Cell Formats in Excel.

About Cell Formats

Each cell in a worksheet can be formatted with many
properties. However, we must point out here that the format of
a cell does not affect the actual value in the cell. Let us
explain.

If a cell contains a math formula, especially one containing

division, multiplication of decimals, complex calculations, or
an Excel function, the actual value that Excel computes may
have a large number of decimal places. But if the cell has been
formatted to display fewer decimal points - two in the case of
currency - that is all that Excel will display. So, depending on
the situation, the value you see on the worksheet may not be
the actual value for the cell. It may be a rounded value. So
keep this in mind when formatting cells.
To prevent the appearance of errors in a spreadsheet
performing multiple calculations with currency or other
numbers with decimal portions, see the last two sections of
our tutorial The Round Function.
There are six tabs in the "Format Cells" window, and all
formatting options may be found on one of these tabs. Multiple
cells can be formatted in one step by first selecting the cells
as discussed in the "Selecting Cells" section of our
tutorial Excel Made Easy: A Beginners Guide.

The "Format Cells" window can be accessed in all versions of

Excel from the right-click menu. Since Microsoft seems to
change the user interface so often, we feel it is faster and
easier to just right-click to reach the Format Cells window.

However, in Excel 2007 and higher versions, some formatting

options are available on the Font, Alignment, and Number
groups of the Home tab. To see formatting options not
displayed, click the little arrow in the lower right corner of the
group and the "Format Cells" window displays.

The Number Tab (What is the Data Type?)

The first tab is Number and contains categories for the type of
data that is in the cell. The default category is General. Other
categories are number, currency, accounting, date, time,
percentage, fraction, scientific, text, special, and custom.

Some of the options allow the user to specify the number of

decimal points, how negative numbers should be displayed,
and what currency symbol, if any.

There are many formats for date, time, and fractions, and the
custom category has a variety of unique formats for many of
the categories.

The default category, General, is very flexible. Dates display as

dates, text displays as text, and numbers display as numbers.

Important Tip: Don't indiscriminately format entire rows,

columns, or cell ranges in a spreadsheet with a particular
category without forethought or you may end up reformatting
many individual cells and re-entering data.

For example, let's say you formatted your entire spreadsheet

with "Number" or "Currency," and then decided that you
needed to add some dates in the spreadsheet. If you type a
date in a cell that has been formatted for Number or Currency,
the date that you just typed in won't display when you press
the Enter key. Instead, the date's serial number will display -
which is probably NOT what you want.

Also, if a formula is entered into a cell formatted for a date, the

answer to the formula will not display, but a strange date will!
The cell will have to be reformatted and the formula re-
entered.

A KeynoteSupport.com Tutorial
Alignment Formatting Options
The second tab is Alignment. There are three "Text Control"
options on this tab that are especially useful when formatting
a spreadsheet with titles, subtitles, and column headings. They
are "Wrap text" and "Merge Cells." The option, "Shring to fit"
will take the cell value and make the font small enough to be
completely displayed. This can work well for text that is a bit
too big to display, but increasing the cell size is not desired.
However, Excel will display long numbers in Scientific
Notation, so be care using this on long numbers unless you
want to explain Scientific Notation to your audience!

Other options on the Alignment tab are text alignment in a cell

- both horizontal and vertical. This option includes left, center,
right, justify, indent, and more. Text direction (left to right, or
right to left) is available, and on this tab you can select text
orientation to a single degree.

Font Formatting
The third tab is Font and the usual options that one sees in
most Microsoft Office products are available: font name, font
style (regular, italic, bold), color, size, underline style (single,
double, etc.), and the special effects of strike-through,
superscript, and subscript.

Creating Borders on Worksheet Cells or

Group of Cells
The fourth tab is Border. The Border tab provides a variety of
border styles, and any color may be selected for a border. A
border style and border color can be set for each side of an
individual cell or a group of cells.
One can select a border on one or more sides, and if a cell
range was selected, one can choose an inside border, outline
border, or both. Diagonal borders are also an option.

Many folks have trouble applying a border style or color

because Excel is fussy about the order in which steps are
taken. Always select the border style and color first; then
select the side or sides of the cell to receive the border by
clicking one of the presets or clicking one or more sides of the
box. A cell or group of cells can have four borders - each with a
different color and style.

Patterns or Fill

The fifth tab is called Patterns or Fill - depending on the

version of Excel. The background of a single cell or range of
cells can be filled with any imaginable color, and a variety of
pattern styles are available, such horizontal, vertical, or
diagonal stripes, dots, and crosshatches of different widths
and percentages of gray.

Special fill effects are also available, such as two-color

gradients that shade horizontally, vertically, horizontally, or
one of several other gradient styles.

These options can certainly make a worksheet more

attractive, especially for presentation. But techniques like
shading every other row with a light gray color can make a
worksheet with lots of numerical data much easier to read.

A KeynoteSupport.com Tutorial

Locking and Hiding Cell Contents

The last tab on the "Format Cells window" is
the Protection tab. This feature allows the user to define
certain cells as Locked and/or Hidden. If a cell is formatted as
Hidden, when that cell is selected in the worksheet, its
contents will not display in the Formula Bar.
To hide cell contents, click in the cell and check the box next
to Hidden on the Protection tab.
The Protection Tab also provides the ability to lock or unlock a
cell. By default, all cells are locked. But the data in a locked
cell is only protected if the user ALSO protects the worksheet.
If you are interested in protecting certain worksheet cells that
contain vital data or complex formulas, we provide detailed
instructions on locking cells and protecting worksheets in our
separate tutorial, Protecting Worksheet Data in Microsoft
Excel.

In Closing...
Error messages in excel begin with the pound sign (#). The
most common error, #####, displays when the column is not
wide enough to display the data. Place the cursor on the right
side of the column heading and drag to the right to increase a
column's width.

We hope our tutorial on Formatting Cells in Excel has been

helpful. Cheers!