When entering numbers into a spreadsheet, you sometimes need to ensure that the number format is consistent. For example, if the numbers in question represent prices, you may want to display a currency symbol or you may simply want to make sure that the number of decimals displayed is consistent..

Unless otherwise specified, all numbers in Excel are rendered in the andquot;Generalandquot; format. This means that numbers are formatted exactly as you enter them: if you enter two decimals, two decimals are displayed; if you went to a single decimal, a single decimal is displayed; and so on.

To specify the number format, the best idea is usually to select the entire column. To do this, simply click on the letter or letters representing the column. (If text is contained in the selection, it will not be affected by the number format you specify.)

Number formats are displayed in the andquot;Numbersandquot; section of the Home Tab of the Ribbon. There are three main formats related to numbers: the first is called andquot;Numberandquot;, the second andquot;Currencyandquot; and the third andquot;Accountingandquot;. To gain access to the full range of number formats, choose andquot;More Number Formatsandquot; from the drop-down menu. Another way of accessing the same dialog box is to click on the launch button in the andquot;Numbersandquot; section of the Home Tab.

When you click on one of the number formats on the left of the andquot;Numbersandquot; dialogue box, you are given a series of choices which enable you to refine the way that the format will work. Thus, if your numbers refer to an hourly rate, you would click the andquot;Numberandquot; category in the left column and then specify two decimal places. The option to andquot;Use Thousands Separatorandquot; will add the appropriate separator to demarcate thousands. The separator used will depend on your locality: for example, in the UK or USA, a comma will be used; in European countries, a dot will be used.

The last option in the andquot;Numberandquot; category controls the display of negative numbers. The default setting is to display a minus sign in front of the number and leave the colour of the text unchanged. However, you can also choose not to display the minus sign and change the colour of negative numbers to red. Alternatively, you can change the colour of negative numbers to red and also display the minus sign.

When you click on the andquot;Currencyandquot; category, you have pretty much the same choices with the addition of a currency symbol. One can specify which currency symbol is used or one can dispense with the currency symbol altogether.

The andquot;Accountingandquot; number format is almost identical to andquot;Currencyandquot;. Here again, we can choose our currency symbol. However, there are no choices relating to negative numbers. This is because the convention in accountancy is to put negative numbers in brackets.

As well as using the number dialog box, you'll notice a series of handy buttons which can apply each of the number formats with one click. There are also a couple of buttons for increasing and decreasing the number of decimals displayed in the selected cells.

Finally, there may be times where you enter a number into a cell but do not want Excel to treat it as a number. For example, if you have a column of data representing an ID, although the ID may be numeric, you may not want Excel to regard it as a number or to modify it in any way. You will probably want it to simply stay exactly as it was entered. Whenever that's the case, it's best to format the number as andquot;Textandquot;. The simplest way of doing this is to highlight the appropriate column and in the number dialog box choose andquot;Textandquot; as the category.

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Article Submitted By: LynneKramer
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