How to Format Cells in Excel

You can improve the presentation of the information in a spreadsheet by setting the way text and numbers are formatted in each cell. You can set different cell-formatting for different cells. To format text already in a cell, select the text within the cell and then apply the formatting. To format text before you type it, select the cells where the text will go and apply formatting before you add the text.

The commands at Home > Font on the Ribbon provide basic formatting options for text. They also allow you to define the borders and colors of a cell or range of cells.

Icons at Home > Font also let you set the border , background color , or font color for a cell or range of cells. Clicking directly on these icons applies the current color or border configuration. If you want to change the color or border, click on the arrow next to the icon. A menu pops up that lets you choose a specific color or which edges of a cell or range of cells should get a border. Select the option you want, and it will automatically apply to the active cell or range of cells.

You can format how text is aligned within a cell using the commands at Home > Alignment.

The Number group on the Home tab makes it easy to format the numbers in your spreadsheets. Along with a drop-down menu that lets you apply the major Excel number formats to the active cell, the Number group provides various number formatting tools:

Excel automatically rounds a number to however many decimals you have formatted it to have. For example, a cell that held the number 4.55 when formatted to have two decimals would hold 4.6 when formatted for one decimal and just 5 when formatted to have no decimals.

To copy formatting from one cell to another, first select one or more cells that contain the formatting you want. Next, click the Format Painter icon in Home > Clipboard. Click in the cell or drag over the cells you’d like to format.

Excel 2007 has a new feature called Live Preview, which, when you put your cursor over the options on any formatting drop-down menu, displays how a formatting change will look. If you like how it looks, choose the option by clicking it.