Section 3 - Formatting Numbers

To apply number formats to a cell or cells, in Excel XP or MAC Excel 2004, formatting may be accessed via the Formatting Toolbar.

Excel XP

OR

Click on the Format menu and hen choose Cells from the pull down menu. When the Format Cells dialog box appears select the Number tab.

In Excel 2007, formatting may be accessed under the Home tab and using the different groups such as, Font, Alignment, Number, Styles, Cells, and Editing. To format numbers you can also access the dialog box launcher under on the bottom right hand side of the Number group to allow for more formatting.

Click on the dialog box launcher, then the Format Cells dialog box will display. The number tab will be selected and you can choose a format for the number or range of numbers.

Formatting a number changes the way a number appears in a cell or range of cells. Changing the formatting does not change the underlying value of the number. By default, a new worksheet is opened with a General format: numbers are aligned to the right sides of cells and text is aligned to the left, and columns are 10 characters wide. Once a format has been applied to a cell, it will affect any number entered into that cell.

NOTE: If a formatted number is too wide to fit in a cell, the cell appears as a series of pound signs (######). To see the number, increase the column width.

Microsoft Excel provides several buttons for those commonly used formats. To apply one of the following formats, click on a cell to make it active. Then click on the appropriate button on the Formatting Toolbar.

Formatting Button	Style	Characteristics
	Currency	Includes 2 decimal places and a dollar sign.
	Percent	Includes 2 decimal places and a percent sign.
	Comma	Commas inserted beginning with thousands. Includes 2 decimal places.
	Increase Decimal	Adds one decimal place.
	Decrease Decimal	Deletes one decimal place.