Excel offers themes to change the look of your workbook with the click of a button. Each theme consists of 12 colors, two fonts (Headings and Body) and effects for shapes and SmartArt. 1. On the Page Layout tab, in the Themes group, you can see that the worksheet below uses the standard Office theme. […]
Quickly format a cell by choosing a cell style. You can also create your own cell style. Quickly format a range of cells by choosing a table style. 1. For example, select cell B2 below. 2. On the Home tab, in the Styles group, choose a cell style. Result. To create your own cell style, […]
The Format Painter is one of the most underused features of Excel. The Format Painter copies formatting from one place and applies it to another. 1. For example, select cell B2 below. 2. On the Home tab, in the Clipboard group, click Format Painter. 3. Select cell D2. Result: Note: the Format Painter applies the […]
Excel has many built-in formats that you can use: Currency, Accounting, Date, Time, Percentage, etc. If you cannot find the right format, you can create a custom number format. Leading Zeros For example, you might have codes that consist of 5 numbers. Instead of typing 00041, simply type 41 and let Excel add the leading […]
By default, text is left-aligned and numbers are right-aligned. This example teaches you how to convert ‘text strings that represent numbers’ to numbers. 1. Select the range A1:A4 and change the number format to General. 2. Numbers preceded by an apostrophe are also treated as text. Select cell A5 and manually remove the apostrophe. […]
The Currency format and the Accounting format in Excel are very similar to each other. This example shows the difference. 1. Enter the following values. 2. The Currency format places the dollar sign right next to the number. 3. The Accounting format aligns the dollar signs at the left edge of the cell and displays […]
This example teaches you how to enter a fraction in Excel and how change the format of a fraction. 1. To enter the fraction 1 4/7 into cell A1, select cell A1 and type 1 4/7. To enter the fraction 4/7, type 0 4/7 (with a 0 or Excel thinks you want to enter a […]
Dates and times in Excel can be displayed in a variety of ways. To apply a Date or Time format, execute the following steps. 1. Select cell A1. 2. Right click, and then click Format Cells. 3. In the Category list, select Date, and select a Date format. 4. Click OK. Note: to apply a […]
Learn how to show fewer decimal places in Excel without changing the number itself. You can also round a number. 1. Enter the value 2.175 into cell A1. 2. On the Home tab, in the Number group, click the Decrease Decimal button two times. Notice the button next to it to show more decimal places. […]
When we format cells in Excel, we change the appearance of a number without changing the number itself. We can apply a number format (0.8, $0.80, 80%, etc) or other formatting (alignment, font, border, etc). 1. Enter the value 0.8 into cell B2. By default, Excel uses the General format (no specific number format) for […]
