Lesson 4: Formatting Cells Unit 1: Introduction Lesson 4: Formatting Cells

Lesson 4: Formatting Cells Objectives: Apply font formats Understand cell alignments Apply number format

Formatting and Cell Content Format attributes are pieces of information that describe the appearance of the cell’s content. Delete the text, the cell attributes are still red. Examples include font, font size, and font color. Format attributes are associated with a cell and not the cell’s content. The attributes and content are independent. Changing one does not effect the other.

Selecting a Cell Formatting is applied to the active cell. The active cell is the currently selected cell and indicated with a solid border. Active cell You can single click on a cell to select it and make it the active cell. When formatting a cell, make sure the selected cell is NOT in edit mode. Edit mode allows you to edit existing data in a cell. Edit mode Edit mode is indicated by a blinking cursor visible in the cell. When you are in Edit Mode, any formatting you do will only affect the selected text. If you accidently enter Edit Mode, simply click on another cell and then re-select the desired cell.

Formatting Fonts The formatting commands can be found on the Home tab, in the Font group. These commands allow you to change the: • Font • Font Size • Font color, and • Font styles, such as bold and italics Font format commands are found in the Toolbar and under the Format tab.

Cell Alignment In addition to changing the font, you can also change the alignment of information in a cell. Alignment is how the text is positioned within the borders of the cell. Alignment commands include: Left align Center align Right align Increase indent Decrease indent Wrap text Alignment commands are found on the Toolbar and under the Format tab.

Wrapping Text The Wrap Text forces text that is too wide for a cell to fit within the cell by wrapping the text onto other lines.

Number Formatting By default, a number is given a “general” format. This means no specific format is given to the number. Change the format by: 1) Selecting the cell 2) On the Toolbar, click the “More Formats” command. 3) Selecting the desired format. Format choices include: percentage, currency, date and more….

Formatting Numbers Using Text Entry You can enter a number in such a way that tells Excel to automatically format it in a specific way. Entering a dollar sign before a number tells Excel to format the number as currency. Entering a percent sign after a number tells Excel to format the number as a percentage. Entering a month, day and year separated by slashes tells Excel to format the number as a date.

Adjust Decimal Points Like the other formatting options, you can format cells to show more or fewer decimal places without changing the content of the cells. On the Home tab, in the Numbers group, you can use the Increase Decimal and Decrease Decimal commands. 3.45 3.45678 3.45678 3.45 The Increase Decimal command shows one more decimal places for the selected cells. For example, selecting a cell and clicking Increase Decimal three times will show three more decimal places. The Decrease Decimal command shows one fewer decimal places for the selected cells. For example, selecting a cell and clicking Decrease Decimal two times will show two fewer decimal places.

Summary In this lesson, you’ve seen how formatting can make information on spreadsheet easier to read and understand. Basic techniques include: changing the font format, cell alignments, and number format.