This tutorial demystifies Excel's number formatting, guiding you through creating custom formats. Learn to control decimal places, add currency symbols, round to thousands, display leading zeros, and much more, going beyond Excel's built-in options.

Microsoft Excel offers pre-built formats for numbers, currency, percentages, dates, and times. However, specific formatting needs often require custom solutions. This tutorial covers essential aspects of Excel number formatting, empowering you to master custom formatting.

• Creating Custom Number Formats in Excel
• Understanding Excel Number Format Structure
• Excel Formatting Techniques & Best Practices:
  • Specifying Decimal Places
  • Using Thousand Separators
  • Rounding to Thousands
  • Incorporating Text
  • Displaying Currency Symbols
  • Showing Leading Zeros
  • Formatting as Percentages
  • Converting Decimals to Fractions
  • Custom Scientific Notation
  • Parentheses for Negative Numbers
  • Representing Zeros as Dashes or Blanks
  • Adding Indents
  • Modifying Font Color
  • Repeating Characters
  • Adjusting Alignment
  • Conditional Number Formatting
  • Date and Time Formatting

Creating Custom Number Formats

To create a custom format:

1. Select the target cell(s). Press Ctrl 1 to open the Format Cells dialog.
2. Choose Custom under Category.
3. Enter your format code in the Type box.
4. Click OK.

Tip: Instead of starting from scratch, modify an existing built-in format as a base.

Understanding Excel Number Formats

Excel number formats use four sections, separated by semicolons:

POSITIVE; NEGATIVE; ZERO; TEXT

This example shows:

1. Positive numbers (2 decimal places, thousands separator).
2. Negative numbers (same as positive, in parentheses).
3. Zeros (displayed as dashes).
4. Text values (magenta font).

Key Formatting Rules:

1. Custom formats affect display only; the underlying cell value remains unchanged.
2. Customizing a built-in format creates a copy; the original is untouched.
3. Formats can have 1-4 sections. One section applies to all number types; two sections handle positive/zero and negative numbers; four sections include text formatting.
4. Use General for default formatting in any section. For example: General; -General; "-"; General displays zeros as dashes, using default formatting otherwise.
5. Omit a section to hide that value type (e.g., General; ; ; General hides zeros and negatives).
6. To delete a custom format, use the Format Cells dialog, select Custom, find the format, and click Delete.

Digit and Text Placeholders:

More Format Examples:

Excel Formatting Tips and Guidelines

The table below lists common format codes:

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