Excel Format Cells: A Complete Guide with Examples

What Is Format Cells? Format Cells is a data formatting feature in Excel that assigns a specific type or appearance to the data in a cell, so your data is easier to read and understand and looks more appealing. 
Types of Cell Formatting Before applying Format Cells, it helps to know the characteristics of each formatting type. Microsoft Excel provides 6 types of cell formatting, as follows: Format Cells Number This format is used to set how numbers are displayed, whether for numbering, currency, dates, and more. Excel offers several Number formats you can use to format a cell, as follows: 

1. General: The default format Excel applies to every cell.
2. Number: Sets how numbers are displayed, including the use of a comma or period for decimals.
3. Currency: Applies the currency of the selected country. You can choose the currency symbol for each country.
4. Accounting: Designed for accounting purposes. The Accounting format is almost the same as Currency; the only difference is how the data is displayed. In Accounting, the symbol and the number are separated (the symbol is aligned to the left edge of the cell), while in Currency the symbol sits right next to the number.
5. Date: Sets the date format displayed in the cell.
6. Time: Sets the time format.
7. Percentage: Displays decimal values as percentages.
8. Fraction: Displays values as fractions.
9. Scientific: Displays very large or very small numbers in exponential notation. For example, 1,000,000 becomes 1.00E+06.
10. Text: Treats numeric data as text.
11. Special: A special category, commonly used for formats such as postal codes or phone numbers.
12. Custom: Lets you create your own custom format.

Format Cells Alignment This format controls how data is positioned within a cell, horizontally or vertically. You can change the orientation of text or numbers, including the angle of rotation. There are 3 types of alignment settings you can use to format a cell, as follows: 

1. Text Alignment: Sets the horizontal or vertical position of the text, such as Left, Center, or Right.
2. Orientation: Sets the angle of the text, in degrees.
3. Text Control: Controls how long text is handled, such as wrapping it within the cell, shrinking it to fit, or merging cells.

Format Cells Font In the Font format, you can set the typeface, style, and size, and add color, underline, and effects to text as needed. There are 5 font settings you can use to format a cell, as follows: 

1. Font: The typeface to use.
2. Font Style: The style of the font, such as italic or bold.
3. Size: The font size.
4. Color: The font color.
5. Effects: Adds effects such as strikethrough, or small characters above or below the normal text line (Superscript & Subscript).

Format Cells Border The Border format is used to add outlines or frames to a table. You can add lines in styles such as dashed or single, and customize the line color. 

Format Cells Fill The Fill format is used to add color to a cell or range. It includes the following options: 

1. Background Color: Applies a background color to the selected cell or range.
2. Pattern Style: Applies a pattern or shading to the selected cells.
3. Pattern Color: Sets the color of the pattern.

Format Cells Protection The Protection format relates to data protection within a cell. It is used to protect cells or to hide the formulas written in them. By default, cells are set to Locked. If you want to edit data in a protected cell, you can uncheck the Locked option. 

1. Locked checkbox: Locks the cell, which is useful when the cell contains a formula.

Hidden checkbox: Hides the formula in the cell. How to Apply Format Cells To open the Format Cells window, use one of the following methods:

1. Right-click in the worksheet area, then select Format Cells.

 
Go to the Home tab, click Format, then click Format Cells. 

Use the keyboard shortcut CTRL+1.

Example of Applying Format Cells 

1. In this example, we will format a table

"Bebek Goreng Kondang Receipt". We will convert the numbers into Indonesian rupiah currency format, change the date 29/08/2019 to 29 August 2019, and add a background color to the table header. 

 Steps to Apply Format Cells Number, Accounting Type, to the Price & Amount data.

1. Select the price & amount cells, then right-click on the selected area.
2. Click Format Cells.

1. Click the Number tab, then click Accounting.
2. Under Decimal places, set 2 decimal places.
3. Under Symbol, open the dropdown and select Rp Indonesian, then click OK.

 Steps to Apply Format Cells Number, Date Type, to the Receipt Date.

1. Select the receipt date cells, then right-click on the selected area.
2. Click Format Cells.

1. Click the Number tab, then click Date.
2. Under Locale (location), open the dropdown and select Indonesian.
3. Under Type, choose 12 March 2012 or another format that suits your needs, then click OK.

Steps to Apply Format Cells Fill, to the Receipt Table Header.

1. Select the table header cells, then right-click on the selected area.
2. Click Format Cells.

That's the end of this tutorial. We hope you find it useful.