Microsoft KB Archive/131394

= Default Category Number Formats Different than Previous =

Article ID: 131394

Article Last Modified on 8/15/2005

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APPLIES TO


 * Microsoft Excel 97 Standard Edition
 * Microsoft Excel 95 Standard Edition

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This article was previously published under Q131394



SYMPTOMS
In Microsoft Excel versions 7.0 and 97, when you apply a number format to a value in a cell, the appearance of the value may be different from that in earlier versions of Microsoft Excel. For example, when you apply the Currency format to the value 2.34 (without selecting a specific format code) the value appears as $2.34 in Microsoft Excel versions 7.0 and 97, where the value appears as $2 in earlier versions of Microsoft Excel.



CAUSE
This behavior occurs when you apply a number format by selecting a category, but you do not select a specific format code. Some of these "default" number formats in Microsoft Excel versions 7.0 and 97 are custom formats, and are different from the defaults applied by default in earlier versions of Microsoft Excel.

Note that Microsoft Excel versions 7.0 and 97 contain all of the formatting codes that are available in Microsoft Excel version 5.0, with the addition of several special formatting codes.

The following table contains the number format category, the category default format codes applied in Microsoft Excel version 5.0, and the default category format codes applied in versions 7.0 and 97.  Category     Version 5.0 Default          Versions 7.0/97 Default Category Format Codes         Category Format Codes --

Custom            General                        General

Number               0                            0.00

Accounting  _($* #,##0_);_($* (#,##0);   _($* #,##0.00_);_($* (#,##0.00);                 _($* "-"_);_(@_)           _($* "-"??_);_(@_)

Date              m/d/yy                           m/d

Time            h:mm AM/PM                         h:mm

Percentage          0%                             0.00%

Fraction           # ?/? # ?/?

Scientific        0.00E+01                        0.00E+01

Text                 @                              @

Currency        $#,##0_);($#,##0)               $#,##0.00 The following table contains the number format category, and the difference in appearance between the default formatting in Microsoft Excel version 5.0 and versions 7.0 and 97.  Category          Appearance In        Appearance In                    version 5.0        versions 7.0/97 -

Custom                34                  34

Number                 5                5.00

Accounting        $4,500           $4,500.00

Date              3/4/95                 3/4

Time            12:00 AM                12:00

Percentage           34%              34.00%

Fraction             4.5                 4.5

Scientific      8.59E+12            8.59E+12

Text            8                   8

Currency              $2               $2.34



WORKAROUND
To work around this behavior in Microsoft Excel versions 7.0 and 97, select the formatting options in the Format Cells dialog box until the sample appears the way you want.

