Excel Formatting Cells
Formatting cells changes how a value looks on screen and in print, without changing the actual number, date, or text stored underneath it.
Formatting Changes Appearance, Not Value
A cell can contain the number 0.2 but display as 20%, or contain the serial number for a date but display as 17-Jul-2026. The underlying stored value never changes when you format a cell; only how Excel displays that value changes, which matters because formulas always calculate using the real stored number, not the formatted text you see.
Number Format Categories
Opening the Format Cells dialog with Ctrl+1 gives access to every formatting category in one place, including the Number tab where you choose how values are displayed.
- Select the cell or range you want to format.
- Press Ctrl+1, or right-click and choose Format Cells.
- Pick a category on the Number tab, such as Currency, Percentage, or Date.
- Adjust the options for that category, like decimal places or currency symbol.
- Click OK to apply.
Font, Fill, Border, and Alignment
Beyond numbers, the Format Cells dialog also has Font, Border, Fill, and Alignment tabs, letting you set bold or italic text, add a background color, draw borders around a range, and control horizontal or vertical alignment and text wrapping inside a cell.
Custom Number Formats
The Custom category lets you build your own display pattern using format codes, such as showing a unit after a number or forcing thousands separators.
Example
0.00" kg" ' displays 4.5 as 4.50 kg
#,##0 ' displays 1200000 as 1,200,000
