Microsoft KB Archive/298368

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Article ID: 298368

Article Last Modified on 1/31/2007



APPLIES TO

  • Microsoft Excel 2004 for Mac
  • Microsoft Excel X for Mac
  • Microsoft Excel 2001 for Mac



This article was previously published under Q298368

For a Microsoft Excel for Windows version of this article, see 264372.

SUMMARY

Microsoft Excel for Mac lets you change many of the ways it displays data in a cell. For example, you can specify the number of digits to the right of a decimal point, or you can add a pattern and border to the cell. You can access and modify the majority of these settings in the Format Cells dialog box (on the Format menu, click Cells).

The "More Information" section of this article provides information about each of the settings available in the Format Cells dialog box and how each of these settings can affect the way your data is presented.

MORE INFORMATION

There are six tabs in the Format Cells dialog box: Number, Alignment, Font, Border, Patterns, and Protection. The following sections describe the settings available in each tab.

Number tab

Auto number formatting

By default, all worksheet cells are formatted with the General number format. With the General format, anything you type into the cell is usually left as-is. For example, if you type 35064 into a cell and then press ENTER, the cell contents are displayed as 35064. This is because the cell remains in the General number format. However, if you first format the cell as a date (for example, d/d/yyyy) and then type the number 35064, the cell displays 1/1/2000.

There are also other situations where Excel for Mac leaves the number format as General, but the cell contents are not displayed exactly as they were typed. For example, if you have a narrow column and you type a long string of digits like 123456789, the cell might instead display something like 1.2E+08. If you check the number format in this situation, it remains as General.

Finally, there are scenarios where Excel for Mac may automatically change the number format from General to something else, based on the characters that you typed into the cell. This feature saves you from having to manually make the easily recognized number format changes. The following table outlines a few examples where this can occur:

                   Excel automatically assigns
   If you type     this number format
   -------------------------------------------

   1.0             General
   1.123           General
   1.1%            Percentage, 2 decimal places
   1.1E+2          Scientific, 2 decimal places
   1 1/2           Fraction, up to one digit (1/4)
   $1.11           Currency, 2 decimal places
   1/1/01          Date
   1:10            Time
                

Generally speaking, Excel for Mac applies automatic number formatting whenever you type the following types of data into a cell:

  • Currency
  • Percentage
  • Date
  • Time
  • Fraction
  • Scientific

Built-in number formats

Excel for Mac has a large array of built-in number formats from which you can choose. To use one of these formats, click any one of the categories below General and then select the option that you want for that format. When you select a format from the list, Excel for Mac automatically displays an example of the output in the Sample box on the Number tab. For example, if you type 1.23 in the cell and you select Number in the category list, with three decimal places, the number 1.230 is displayed in the cell.

These built-in number formats actually use a predefined combination of the symbols listed below in the "Custom Number Formats" section. However, the underlying custom number format is transparent to you.

The following table lists all of the available built-in number formats:

   Number format      Notes
   -----------------------------------------------------------------------

   Number             Options include: the number of decimal places, 
                      whether or not the thousands separator is used, and
                      the format to be used for negative numbers.

   Currency           Options include: the number of decimal places, 
                      the symbol used for the currency, and
                      the format to be used for negative numbers. This 
                      format is used for general monetary values.

   Accounting         Options include: the number of decimal places, and 
                      the symbol used for the currency. This format lines
                      up the currency symbols and decimal points in a
                      column of data.

   Date               Select the style of the date from the Type list box.

   Time               Select the style of the time from the Type list box.

   Percentage         Multiplies the existing cell value by 100 and 
                      displays the result with a percent symbol. If you 
                      format the cell first and then type the number, only 
                      numbers between 0 and 1 are multiplied by 100. 
                      The only option is the number of decimal places.

   Fraction           Select the style of the fraction from the Type list 
                      box. If you do not format the cell as a fraction 
                      before typing the value, you may have to type a 
                      zero or space before the fractional part. For 
                      example, if the cell is formatted as General and you 
                      type 1/4 in the cell, Excel treats this as a 
                      date. To type it as a fraction, type 0 1/4 in the 
                      cell.

   Scientific         The only option is the number of decimal places. 

   Text               Cells formatted as text will treat anything typed 
                      into the cell as text, including numbers.

   Special            Select one of the following from the Type box: Zip
                      Code, Zip Code + 4, Phone Number, and Social Security 
                      Number.
                

Custom number formats

If one of the built-in number formats does not display the data in the format that you require, you can create your own custom number format. You can create these custom number formats by modifying the built-in formats or by combining the formatting symbols into your own combination.

Before you create your own custom number format, you need to be aware of a few simple rules governing the syntax for number formats:

  • Each format that you create can have up to three sections for numbers and a fourth section for text.

    <POSITIVE>;<NEGATIVE>;<ZERO>;<TEXT>
                        
  • The first section is the format for positive numbers, the second for negative numbers, and the third for zero values.
  • These sections are separated by semicolons.
  • If you have only one section, all numbers (positive, negative, and zero) are formatted with that format.
  • You can prevent any of the number types (positive, negative, zero) from being displayed by not typing symbols in the corresponding section. For example, the number format

    0.00;;

    prevents any negative or zero values from being displayed.
  • To set the color for any section in the custom format, type the name of the color in brackets in the section. For example, the number format:

    [BLUE]#,##0;[RED]#,##0

    formats positive numbers blue and negative numbers red.
  • Instead of the default positive, negative and zero sections in the format, you can specify custom criteria that must be met for each section. The conditional statements that you specify must be contained within brackets. For example, the number format

    [>100][GREEN]#,##0;[<=-100][YELLOW]#,##0;[CYAN]#,##0

    formats all numbers greater than 100 as green, all numbers less than or equal to -100 as yellow, and all other numbers as cyan.
  • For each part of the format, type symbols that represent how you want the number to look. See the table below for details on all the available symbols.

To create a custom number format, click Custom in the Category list on the Number tab in the Format Cells dialog box. Then, type your custom number format in the Type box.

The following table outlines the different symbols available for use in custom number formats.

   Format Symbol      Description/result
   ------------------------------------------------------------------------

   0                  Digit placeholder. For example, if you type 8.9 and
                      you want it to display as 8.90, then use the
                      format #.00

   #                  Digit placeholder. Follows the same rules as the 0 
                      symbol except Excel for Mac does not display extra zeros
                      when the number you type has fewer digits on either 
                      side of the decimal than there are # symbols in the
                      format. For example, if the custom format is #.## and
                      you type 8.9 in the cell, the number 8.9 is
                      displayed.

   ?                  Digit placeholder. Follows the same rules as the 0 
                      symbol except Excel for Mac places a space for insignificant
                      zeros on either side of the decimal point so that
                      decimal points are aligned in the column. For 
                      example, the custom format 0.0? aligns the decimal 
                      points for the numbers 8.9 and 88.99 in a column.

   . (period)         Decimal point.

   %                  Percentage. If you enter a number between 0 and 1, 
                      and you use the custom format 0%, Excel for Mac multiplies
                      the number by 100 and adds the % symbol in the cell.

   , (comma)          Thousands separator. Excel for Mac separates thousands by
                      commas if the format contains a comma surrounded by
                      '#'s or '0's. A comma following a placeholder 
                      scales the number by a thousand. For example, if the 
                      format is #.0,, and you type 12,200,000 in the cell, 
                      the number 12.2 is displayed.

   E- E+ e- e+        Scientific format. Excel for Mac displays a number to the 
                      right of the "E" symbol that corresponds to the 
                      number of places the decimal point was moved. For 
                      example, if the format is 0.00E+00 and you type 
                      12,200,000 in the cell, the number 1.22E+07 is 
                      displayed. If you change the number format to #0.0E+0 
                      the number 12.2E+6 is displayed.

   $-+/():space       Displays the symbol. If you want to display a 
                      character that is different than one of these 
                      symbols, precede the character with a backslash (\) 
                      or enclose the character in quotation marks (" "). 
                      For example, if the number format is (000) and you 
                      type 12 in the cell, the number (012) is displayed.

   \                  Display the next character in the format. Excel for Mac does
                      not display the backslash. For example, if the number 
                      format is 0\! and you type 3 in the cell, the value 
                      3! is displayed.

   *                  Repeat the next character in the format enough times
                      to fill the column to its current width. You cannot 
                      have more than one asterisk in one section of the 
                      format. For example, if the number format is 0*x and 
                      you type 3 in the cell, the value 3xxxxxx is 
                      displayed. Note, the number of "x" characters 
                      displayed in the cell vary based on the width of the 
                      column.

   _ (underline)      Skip the width of the next character. This is useful
                      for lining up negative and positive values in 
                      different cells of the same column. For example, the 
                      number format _(0.0_);(0.0) align the numbers 
                      2.3 and -4.5 in the column even though the negative 
                      number has parentheses around it.

   "text"             Display whatever text is inside the quotation marks. 
                      For example, the format 0.00 "dollars" displays 
                      "1.23 dollars" (without quotation marks) when you 
                      type 1.23 into the cell.

   @                  Text placeholder. If there is text typed in the 
                      cell, the text from the cell is placed in the format 
                      where the @ symbol appears. For example, if the 
                      number format is "Bob "@" Smith" (including 
                      quotation marks) and you type "John" (without
                      quotation marks) in the cell, the value 
                      "Bob John Smith" (without quotation marks) is
                      displayed.

   DATE FORMATS

   m                  Display the month as a number without a leading zero.

   mm                 Display the month as a number with a leading zero 
                      when appropriate.

   mmm                Display the month as an abbreviation (Jan-Dec).

   mmmm               Display the month as a full name (January-December).

   d                  Display the day as a number without a leading zero.

   dd                 Display the day as a number with a leading zero
                      when appropriate.

   ddd                Display the day as an abbreviation (Sun-Sat).

   dddd               Display the day as a full name (Sunday-Saturday).

   yy                 Display the year as a two-digit number.

   yyyy               Display the year as a four-digit number.

   TIME FORMATS

   h                  Display the hour as a number without a leading zero.

   [h]                Elapsed time, in hours. If you are working with a 
                      formula that returns a time where the number of hours 
                      exceeds 24, use a number format similar to 
                      [h]:mm:ss.

   hh                 Display the hour as a number with a leading zero when
                      appropriate. If the format contains AM or PM, then 
                      the hour is based on the 12-hour clock. Otherwise, 
                      the hour is based on the 24-hour clock.

   m                  Display the minute as a number without a leading 
                      zero.

   [m]                Elapsed time, in minutes. If you are working with a 
                      formula that returns a time where the number of 
                      minutes exceeds 60, use a number format similar to 
                      [mm]:ss.

   mm                 Display the minute as a number with a leading zero
                      when appropriate. The m or mm must appear immediately 
                      after the h or hh symbol, or Excel for Mac displays the 
                      month rather than the minute.

   s                  Display the second as a number without a leading
                      zero.

   [s]                Elapsed time, in seconds. If you are working with a 
                      formula that returns a time where the number of 
                      seconds exceeds 60, use a number format similar to 
                      [ss].

   ss                 Display the second as a number with a leading zero
                      when appropriate.

                      NOTE: If you want to display fractions of a second,
                      use a number format similar to h:mm:ss.00.

   AM/PM              Display the hour using a 12-hour clock. Excel for Mac am/pm
   am/pm              displays AM or A for times from midnight A/P until noon, 
   A/P                and PM or P for times from noon a/p until midnight.       
   a/p             
                      NOTE: Only capitals are created.  

          
                

Displayed value versus stored value

Excel for Mac displays a number according to the format of the cell that contains it. Therefore, the number that you see in the cell may differ from the number stored by Excel for Mac and from the number used in calculations that refer to the cell. For example, if you type 1.2345 in a cell where you only want two digits to the right of the decimal to be displayed, the cell displays the value 1.23. Note however, if you use that cell in a calculation, the full four digits to the right of the decimal are used.

For more information, click the following article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

181918 Number formatting affects perceived precision in Excel for Mac


Alignment tab

You can position text and numbers, change the orientation and specify text control in cells by using the Alignment tab in the Format Cells dialog box.

Text alignment

Under Text alignment, you control the horizontal, vertical alignment and indention. The following is a list of available settings for text alignment:

   Group         Setting        Description
   -----------------------------------------------------------------------
   
   Horizontal    General        Text data is left-aligned, and numbers,
                                dates, and times are right-aligned.
                                Changing the alignment does not change 
                                the type of data.

                 Left (Indent)  Aligns contents at the left edge of the cell.
                                If you specify a number in the Indent box, Microsoft 
                                Excel indents the contents of the cell from the left 
                                by the specified number of character spaces. 
                                The character spaces are based on the standard 
                                font and font size selected on the General tab of
                                the Preferences dialog box (Edit menu in Excel 2001 
                                or Excel menu in Excel X and 2004). 


                 Center         Centers the text in the selected cells.

                 Right          Aligns contents at the right edge of the
                                cell.

                 Fill           Repeats the contents of the selected cell
                                until the cell is full. If blank cells to
                                the right also have the Fill alignment,
                                they are filled as well.

                 Justify        Aligns wrapped text within a cell to the
                                right and left. You must have more than 
                                one line of wrapped text to see the
                                justification.

                 Center Across  Centers a cell entry across the selected
                 Selection      cells.
                                

   Vertical      Top            Aligns cell contents along the top of the
                                cell.

                 Center         Centers cell contents in the middle of the
                                cell from top to bottom.

                 Bottom         Aligns cell contents along the bottom of
                                the cell.

                 Justify        Justifies the cell contents up and down
                                within the width of the cell.
                

Text control

There are some additional miscellaneous text alignment controls in the Text Control section of the Alignment tab. These controls are Wrap Text, Shrink to Fit and Merge Cells.

Select Wrap Text to wrap the text in the selected cell. The number of wrapped lines depends on the width of the column and the length of the cell contents.

Note To start a new line that uses the Wrap Text option, press CONTROL+OPTION+RETURN while typing in the formula bar. This drops the insertion point to a new line and turns on Wrap Text in the active cell.

Selecting the Shrink to Fit option decreases the font size of the text in a cell until all the contents of the cell can be displayed. This feature is helpful when you want to avoid changing the column width for the entire column. The applied font size is not changed.

The Merge Cells option combines two or more selected cells into a single cell. A "merged cell" is a single cell created by combining two or more selected cells. The cell reference for a merged cell is the upper-left cell in the original selected range.

Orientation

You can set the amount of text rotation in the selected cell by using the Orientation section. Use a positive number in the Degree box to rotate the selected text from lower left to upper right in the cell. Use negative degrees to rotate text from upper left to lower right in the selected cell.

To display text vertically from top to bottom, click the vertical Text box under Orientation. This gives a stacked appearance to text, numbers and formulas in the cell.

Font tab

The term font refers to a typeface (for example, Arial), along with its attributes (point size, font style, underlining, color, and effects). Use the Font tab in the Format Cells dialog box to control these settings. You can see a preview of your settings by reviewing the Preview section of the dialog box.

Note You can use this same Font tab to format individual characters. To do this, select the characters in the formula bar and click Cells on the Format menu.

Typeface, Font Style, and Size

The Font option on the Font tab allows you to choose a typeface. You choose your typeface for the selected cell by clicking a name in the Font list or typing a name in the Font box.

After you select a typeface in the Font list, the Size list displays the available point sizes. Keep in mind that each point is 1/72 of an inch.

Typeface Styles

The list of choices in the Font Style list varies depending on the font that is selected in the Font list. Most fonts include the following styles:

  • Regular
  • Italic
  • Bold
  • Bold italic

Underline

In the Underline list, you can select an underlining option to format the selected text. The following table describes each underlining option:

   Underline type        Description
   -----------------------------------------------------------------------

   None                  No underlining is applied.

   Single                A single underline is placed under each character
                         in the cell. The underline is drawn through the
                         descenders of characters like "g" and "p."

   Double                Double underlines are placed under each character
                         in the cell. The underlines are drawn through the
                         descenders of characters like "g" and "p."

   Single Accounting     A single underline is placed under each character
                         in the cell. The underline is drawn below the
                         descenders of characters like "g" and "p." 

   Double Accounting     Double underlines are placed under each character 
                         in the cell. The underlines are drawn through the 
                         descenders of characters like "g" and "p."

Color, effects, and normal font settings

Choose a color for the font by clicking a color in the Color list. You can rest the mouse over a color to see a ToolTip with the color name. The Automatic color is always black.

Select the Normal font check box to set the font, font style, size, and effects to the Normal style. This is essentially resetting the cell formatting to defaults.

Select the Strikethrough check box to draw a line through selected text or numbers. Select the Superscript check box to format the selected text or numbers as superscripts (above). Select the Subscript check box to format the selected text or numbers as subscripts (below). You typically want to use subscripts and superscripts for individual characters in a cell. To do this, select the characters in the formula bar and click Cells on the Format menu.

Note Formatting individual characters only works with text or numbers that are formatted as text or numbers that are formatted as text.

Border tab

In Excel, you can put a border around a single cell or a range of cells. You can also have a line drawn from the upper-left corner of the cell to the lower-right corner, or from the lower-left corner of the cell to the upper-right corner.

You can customize these cells' borders from their default settings by changing the line style, line thickness or line color.

The following settings are available on the Border tab of the Format Cells dialog box:

   Group    Setting              Description
   ------------------------------------------------------------------------

   Presets  None                 Turns off all borders that are currently
                                 applied to the selected cell(s).

            Outline              Places a border on all four sides of a 
                                 single cell or around a selected group of 
                                 cells.

            Inside               Places a border on all interior sides of 
                                 a group of selected cells. This button is 
                                 unavailable (dimmed) if a single cell is
                                 selected.

   Border   Top                  Applies a border with the currently 
                                 selected style and color to the top of the 
                                 cell(s) in the selected region.   

            Inside Horizontal    Applies a border with the currently 
                                 selected style and color to all horizontal
                                 sides in the interior of the currently
                                 selected group of cells. This button is
                                 unavailable (dimmed) if a single cell is
                                 selected.

            Bottom               Applies a border with the currently 
                                 selected style and color to the bottom of  
                                 the cell(s) in the selected region.

            Diagonal (bottom-    Applies a border with the currently 
            left to upper-       selected style and color from the bottom-
            right)               left corner to the upper-right corner for 
                                 all cells in the selection.
            
            Left                 Applies a border with the currently 
                                 selected style and color to the left side 
                                 of the cell(s) in the selected region.

            Inside Vertical      Applies a border with the currently 
                                 selected style and color to all vertical
                                 sides in the interior of the currently
                                 selected group of cells. This button is
                                 unavailable (dimmed) if a single cell is
                                 selected.

            Right                Applies a border with the currently 
                                 selected style and color to the right 
                                 side of the cell(s) in the selected 
                                 region.

            Diagonal (upper-     Applies a border with the currently 
            left to bottom-      selected style and color from the upper-
            right)               left corner to the lower-right corner for 
                                 all cells in the selection.

   Line     Style                Applies the selected line style to the 
                                 border. Choose from dotted, dashed, solid 
                                 and double border lines.

            Color                Applies the specified color to the border.
                

Applying borders

To add a border to a single cell or a range of cells, follow these steps:

  1. Select the cells that you want to format.
  2. On the Format menu, click Cells.
  3. In the Format Cells dialog box, click the Border tab.


Note Some buttons on the Border tab are unavailable (dimmed) when you only have a single cell selected. This is because these settings are only applicable when you apply borders to a range of cells.

  1. Select any one of the line styles in the Style list.
  2. Click the Color drop-down arrow and select any one of the colors.
  3. Click any one of buttons listed under Presets or Border.


This displays a line with your settings in the sample region.

  1. If you want to remove a specific border, click the button for that border a second time.
  2. If you want to change the line color or style, click the style or color that you want, and then click the button for the border again.

Patterns tab

Use the Patterns tab in the Format Cells dialog box to set the background color of the selected cells. You can also use the Pattern list to apply two-color patterns or shading for the background of the cell.

Note The color palette on the Patterns tab is the same color palette from the Color tab of the Preferences dialog box (Edit menu in Excel 2001 or Excel menu in Excel X and in Excel 2004).

To shade cells with patterns, follow these steps:

  1. Select the cells to which you want to apply shading.
  2. On the Format menu, click Cells, and then click the Patterns tab.
  3. To include a background color with the pattern, click a color in the Cell shading box.
  4. Click the arrow next to the Pattern box, and then click the pattern style and color that you want.

If you do not select a pattern color, the pattern is black.

You can return the background color formatting for the selected cells to their default state by clicking No Color.

Protection tab

The Protection tab offers you two options for protecting your worksheet data and formulas:

  • Locked
  • Hidden

However, neither of these two options takes effect unless you also protect your worksheet. To protect a worksheet, point to Protection on the Tools menu, click Protect Sheet, and then select the Contents check box.

Locked

By default, all cells in a worksheet have the Locked option turned on. When this option is turned on (and the worksheet is protected), you cannot do the following:

  • Change the cell data or formulas.
  • Type data in an empty cell.
  • Move the cell.
  • Resize the cell.
  • Delete the cell or its contents.

Note If you want to be able to type data in some cells after protecting the worksheet, make sure to clear the Locked check box for those cells.

Hidden

By default, all cells in a worksheet have the Hidden option turned off. If you turn on this option (and the worksheet is protected) the formula, text, or value in a cell does not appear in the formula bar. However, you do see the results of the formula in the cell.

REFERENCES

For more information about cell formatting, click Microsoft Excel Help on the Help menu, type worksheet formatting in the Office Assistant or the Answer Wizard, and then click Search to view the topics returned.
For more information about issues with cell formatting, click the following article numbers to view the articles in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

248396 Number signs (###) displayed in cells of a worksheet that contain dates in Excel for Mac


191156 Cell linked to text-formatted cell shows formula not value


214233 Text or number converted to unintended number format in Excel


190807 Custom scientific number format displayed incorrectly


213904 You receive a "Too many different cell formats" error message in Excel


181194 Wrong date returned when you enter month and digits


189126 Microsoft policy regarding missing or incorrect passwords


214081 How to lock individual cells in a worksheet


212126 Cell appears blank with angled text and small row height


214089 Custom number formats are lost when worksheet saved as Lotus 1-2-3 file


212129 Diagonal border disappears with rotated text


215193 Dates are not incremented properly when you fill large ranges


189884 How to remove gridlines from a section of a worksheet


213986 Unable to use scroll bar on Number tab in Format Cells dialog box


192221 Unexpected number formats appear under custom category



Additional query words: AskMaxwell XL2001KB MAC XL preference format style XL2001 XLX XL2004

Keywords: kbhowto KB298368