Excel formatting all worksheets

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In Excel, formatting worksheet (or sheet) data is easier than ever. You can use several fast and simple ways to create professional-looking worksheets that display your data effectively. For example, you can use document themes for a uniform look throughout all of your Excel spreadsheets, styles to apply predefined formats, and other manual formatting features to highlight important data.

Formatted worksheet

A document theme is a predefined set of colors, fonts, and effects (such as line styles and fill effects) that will be available when you format your worksheet data or other items, such as tables, PivotTables, or charts. For a uniform and professional look, a document theme can be applied to all of your Excel workbooks and other Office release documents.

Your company may provide a corporate document theme that you can use, or you can choose from a variety of predefined document themes that are available in Excel. If needed, you can also create your own document theme by changing any or all of the theme colors, fonts, or effects that a document theme is based on.

Before you format the data on your worksheet, you may want to apply the document theme that you want to use, so that the formatting that you apply to your worksheet data can use the colors, fonts, and effects that are determined by that document theme.

For information on how to work with document themes, see Apply or customize a document theme.

A style is a predefined, often theme-based format that you can apply to change the look of data, tables, charts, PivotTables, shapes, or diagrams. If predefined styles don’t meet your needs, you can customize a style. For charts, you can customize a chart style and save it as a chart template that you can use again.

Depending on the data that you want to format, you can use the following styles in Excel:

  • Cell styles    To apply several formats in one step, and to ensure that cells have consistent formatting, you can use a cell style. A cell style is a defined set of formatting characteristics, such as fonts and font sizes, number formats, cell borders, and cell shading. To prevent anyone from making changes to specific cells, you can also use a cell style that locks cells.

    Excel has several predefined cell styles that you can apply. If needed, you can modify a predefined cell style to create a custom cell style.

    Some cell styles are based on the document theme that is applied to the entire workbook. When you switch to another document theme, these cell styles are updated to match the new document theme.

    For information on how to work with cell styles, see Apply, create, or remove a cell style.

  • Table styles    To quickly add designer-quality, professional formatting to an Excel table, you can apply a predefined or custom table style. When you choose one of the predefined alternate-row styles, Excel maintains the alternating row pattern when you filter, hide, or rearrange rows.

    For information on how to work with table styles, see Format an Excel table.

  • PivotTable styles    To format a PivotTable, you can quickly apply a predefined or custom PivotTable style. Just like with Excel tables, you can choose a predefined alternate-row style that retains the alternate row pattern when you filter, hide, or rearrange rows.

    For information on how to work with PivotTable styles, see Design the layout and format of a PivotTable report.

  • Chart styles    You apply a predefined style to your chart. Excel provides a variety of useful predefined chart styles that you can choose from, and you can customize a style further if needed by manually changing the style of individual chart elements. You cannot save a custom chart style, but you can save the entire chart as a chart template that you can use to create a similar chart.

    For information on how to work with chart styles, see Change the layout or style of a chart.

To make specific data (such as text or numbers) stand out, you can format the data manually. Manual formatting is not based on the document theme of your workbook unless you choose a theme font or use theme colors — manual formatting stays the same when you change the document theme. You can manually format all of the data in a cell or range at the same time, but you can also use this method to format individual characters.

For information on how to format data manually, see Format text in cells.

To distinguish between different types of information on a worksheet and to make a worksheet easier to scan, you can add borders around cells or ranges. For enhanced visibility and to draw attention to specific data, you can also shade the cells with a solid background color or a specific color pattern.

Text with borders and a background color

If you want to add a colorful background to all of your worksheet data, you can also use a picture as a sheet background. However, a sheet background cannot be printed — a background only enhances the onscreen display of your worksheet.

For information on how to use borders and colors, see:

Apply or remove cell borders on a worksheet

Apply or remove cell shading

Add or remove a sheet background

For the optimal display of the data on your worksheet, you may want to reposition the text within a cell. You can change the alignment of the cell contents, use indentation for better spacing, or display the data at a different angle by rotating it.

Rotating data is especially useful when column headings are wider than the data in the column. Instead of creating unnecessarily wide columns or abbreviated labels, you can rotate the column heading text.

For information on how to change the alignment or orientation of data, see Reposition the data in a cell.

If you have already formatted some cells on a worksheet the way that you want, there are several ways to copy just those formats to other cells or ranges.

Clipboard commands   

  • Home > Paste Paste Special > Paste Formatting.

  • Home > Format Painter Button image .

Right click command   

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  1. Point your mouse at the edge of selected cells until the pointer changes to a crosshair.

  2. Right click and hold, drag the selection to a range, and then release.

  3. Select Copy Here as Formats Only.

Tip   If you’re using a single-button mouse or trackpad on a Mac, use Control+Click instead of right click.

Range Extension   

Data range formats are automatically extended to additional rows when you enter rows at the end of a data range that you have already formatted, and the formats appear in at least three of five preceding rows. The option to extend data range formats and formulas is on by default, but you can turn it on or off by:

  • Newer versions    Selecting File > Options > Advanced > Extend date range and formulas (under Editing options). 

  • Excel 2007    Selecting Microsoft Office Button Office button image > Excel Options > Advanced > Extend date range and formulas (under Editing options)).

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In this article, we will learn How to format all worksheets in one go in Excel.

Scenario:

When working with multiple worksheets in Excel. Before proceeding to the analysis in excel, first we need to get the right format of cells. For example learning the products data of a super store having multiple sheets. For these problems we use the shortcut to do the task.

Ctrl + Click to select multiple sheets in Excel

To select multiple sheets at once. Go to excel sheet tabs and click all required sheets holding the Ctrl key.

Then format any of the selected sheets and the formatting done on the sheet will be copied to all. Only formatting not the data itself.

Example :

All of these might be confusing to understand. Let’s understand how to use the function using an example. Here we have 4 worksheets and we need to edit the formatting of Sheet1 , Sheet2 and Sheet3.

For this we go step by step. First we go to the sheet tabs as shown below.

Select the Sheet1 and now select the Sheet2 with holding Ctrl key and then select Sheet3 keep holding the Ctrl key.

Now any format editing done on any of the selected three sheets will be copied to the other selected ones.

Here are all the observational notes using the formula in Excel.
Notes :

  1. This process is the most common practice.
  2. You can also copy format of any cell and apply to others using the Copy formatter option in Excel

Hope this article about How to format all worksheets in one go in Excel is explanatory. Find more articles on calculating values and related Excel formulas here. If you liked our blogs, share it with your friends on Facebook. And also you can follow us on Twitter and Facebook. We would love to hear from you, do let us know how we can improve, complement or innovate our work and make it better for you. Write to us at info@exceltip.com.

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Содержание

  1. Ways to format a worksheet
  2. Excel Formatting
  3. Formatting
  4. Styling Commands in Ribbon
  5. Styling Commands, Right Clicking Cells
  6. Chapter summary
  7. Apply Conditional Formatting – Multiple Sheets in Excel & Google Sheets
  8. Apply Conditional Formatting to Multiple Sheets
  9. Copy-Paste
  10. Format Painter
  11. Create a Macro to Apply Conditional Formatting Rule
  12. Apply Conditional Formatting to Multiple Sheets in Google Sheets
  13. Copy Conditional Formatting From One Cell
  14. Copy-Paste
  15. Paint Format

Ways to format a worksheet

In Excel, formatting worksheet (or sheet) data is easier than ever. You can use several fast and simple ways to create professional-looking worksheets that display your data effectively. For example, you can use document themes for a uniform look throughout all of your Excel spreadsheets, styles to apply predefined formats, and other manual formatting features to highlight important data.

A document theme is a predefined set of colors, fonts, and effects (such as line styles and fill effects) that will be available when you format your worksheet data or other items, such as tables, PivotTables, or charts. For a uniform and professional look, a document theme can be applied to all of your Excel workbooks and other Office release documents.

Your company may provide a corporate document theme that you can use, or you can choose from a variety of predefined document themes that are available in Excel. If needed, you can also create your own document theme by changing any or all of the theme colors, fonts, or effects that a document theme is based on.

Before you format the data on your worksheet, you may want to apply the document theme that you want to use, so that the formatting that you apply to your worksheet data can use the colors, fonts, and effects that are determined by that document theme.

For information on how to work with document themes, see Apply or customize a document theme.

A style is a predefined, often theme-based format that you can apply to change the look of data, tables, charts, PivotTables, shapes, or diagrams. If predefined styles don’t meet your needs, you can customize a style. For charts, you can customize a chart style and save it as a chart template that you can use again.

Depending on the data that you want to format, you can use the following styles in Excel:

Cell styles To apply several formats in one step, and to ensure that cells have consistent formatting, you can use a cell style. A cell style is a defined set of formatting characteristics, such as fonts and font sizes, number formats, cell borders, and cell shading. To prevent anyone from making changes to specific cells, you can also use a cell style that locks cells.

Excel has several predefined cell styles that you can apply. If needed, you can modify a predefined cell style to create a custom cell style.

Some cell styles are based on the document theme that is applied to the entire workbook. When you switch to another document theme, these cell styles are updated to match the new document theme.

For information on how to work with cell styles, see Apply, create, or remove a cell style.

Table styles To quickly add designer-quality, professional formatting to an Excel table, you can apply a predefined or custom table style. When you choose one of the predefined alternate-row styles, Excel maintains the alternating row pattern when you filter, hide, or rearrange rows.

For information on how to work with table styles, see Format an Excel table.

PivotTable styles To format a PivotTable, you can quickly apply a predefined or custom PivotTable style. Just like with Excel tables, you can choose a predefined alternate-row style that retains the alternate row pattern when you filter, hide, or rearrange rows.

For information on how to work with PivotTable styles, see Design the layout and format of a PivotTable report.

Chart styles You apply a predefined style to your chart. Excel provides a variety of useful predefined chart styles that you can choose from, and you can customize a style further if needed by manually changing the style of individual chart elements. You cannot save a custom chart style, but you can save the entire chart as a chart template that you can use to create a similar chart.

For information on how to work with chart styles, see Change the layout or style of a chart.

To make specific data (such as text or numbers) stand out, you can format the data manually. Manual formatting is not based on the document theme of your workbook unless you choose a theme font or use theme colors — manual formatting stays the same when you change the document theme. You can manually format all of the data in a cell or range at the same time, but you can also use this method to format individual characters.

For information on how to format data manually, see Format text in cells.

To distinguish between different types of information on a worksheet and to make a worksheet easier to scan, you can add borders around cells or ranges. For enhanced visibility and to draw attention to specific data, you can also shade the cells with a solid background color or a specific color pattern.

If you want to add a colorful background to all of your worksheet data, you can also use a picture as a sheet background. However, a sheet background cannot be printed — a background only enhances the onscreen display of your worksheet.

For information on how to use borders and colors, see:

For the optimal display of the data on your worksheet, you may want to reposition the text within a cell. You can change the alignment of the cell contents, use indentation for better spacing, or display the data at a different angle by rotating it.

Rotating data is especially useful when column headings are wider than the data in the column. Instead of creating unnecessarily wide columns or abbreviated labels, you can rotate the column heading text.

For information on how to change the alignment or orientation of data, see Reposition the data in a cell.

If you have already formatted some cells on a worksheet the way that you want, there are several ways to copy just those formats to other cells or ranges.

Home > Paste > Paste Special > Paste Formatting.

Home > Format Painter .

Right click command

Point your mouse at the edge of selected cells until the pointer changes to a crosshair.

Right click and hold, drag the selection to a range, and then release.

Select Copy Here as Formats Only.

Tip If you’re using a single-button mouse or trackpad on a Mac, use Control+Click instead of right click.

Data range formats are automatically extended to additional rows when you enter rows at the end of a data range that you have already formatted, and the formats appear in at least three of five preceding rows. The option to extend data range formats and formulas is on by default, but you can turn it on or off by:

Newer versions Selecting File > Options > Advanced > Extend date range and formulas (under Editing options).

Excel 2007 Selecting Microsoft Office Button > Excel Options > Advanced > Extend date range and formulas (under Editing options)).

Источник

Excel Formatting

Formatting

Excel has many ways to format and style a spreadsheet.

Why format and style your spreadsheet?

  • Make it easier to read and understand
  • Make it more delicate

Styling is about changing the looks of cells, such as changing colors, font, font sizes, borders, number formats, and so on.

The most used styling functions are:

There are two ways to access the styling commands in Excel:

  1. The Ribbon
  2. Formatting menu, by right clicking cells

Read more about the Ribbon in the Excel overview chapter.

Styling Commands in Ribbon

The Ribbon can be expanded by clicking the arrow/caret-down icon on the right side. This gives access to more commands:

Styling Commands, Right Clicking Cells

You can also right-click on any cell to style it:

Styling commands can be accessed from both views.

Chapter summary

Formatting is used to make spreadsheets more readable. There are many ways to add styles. The most common ones are; Color, Font, Number format and Grids.

Источник

Apply Conditional Formatting – Multiple Sheets in Excel & Google Sheets

This tutorial demonstrates how to apply conditional formatting to multiple sheets in Excel and Google Sheets.

In the latest versions of Excel, you can no longer select multiple sheets and then apply a conditional formatting rule to all the sheets at once. You need to do one sheet first, then copy the conditional formatting between sheets. Or, you can write a macro to repeat the conditional formatting on each sheet.

Apply Conditional Formatting to Multiple Sheets

Copy-Paste

  1. Select the sheet with the conditional formatting applied and right-click the cell with conditional formatting rule. Then click Copy (or use the keyboard shortcut CTRL + C).

  1. Next, click on the destination sheet and select the destination cell or cells. Right-click and choose Paste Special > Paste Format.

Format Painter

You can also copy the conditional formatting rule from one sheet to another with the Format Painter feature.

  1. Select the cell in the source sheet that has a conditional formatting rule and then, in the Ribbon, select Home > Clipboard > Format Painter.

  1. Click on the destination sheet and click on the cells or cell where you wish to apply the format.

Create a Macro to Apply Conditional Formatting Rule

While creating a new conditional formatting rule in Excel, you can record a macro to mimic the steps you take.

  1. In the Ribbon, select View > Macros > Record Macro.

OR, in the Ribbon, select Developer > Code > Record Macro.

Note: If you don’t see the Developer Ribbon, you’ll need to enable it.

  1. In the Record Macro dialog box, (1) type in a name for your macro and (2) make sure you select Personal Macro Workbookfrom the drop-down list. Then, (3) click OK to start recording.

  1. Once you have clicked OK, you can follow the steps to create the conditional formatting rule you require, and then click the stop button at the bottom of the screen to stop recording the macro.
  1. To run the macro on a different sheet, switch to that sheet and select the cell or cells you wish to apply the conditional formatting to.
  1. In the Ribbon, select View > Macros > View Macros.

OR Developer > Visual Basic > Macros

  1. Click on the Macro in the Macro name list and then select Run.

  1. You can run the macro on as many sheets as you require.

Note: You can view the code by selecting the macro in the Macro dialog box (shown above) and selecting Edit. This takes you to the Visual Basic Editor and enables you to view and/or edit your VBA code.

Apply Conditional Formatting to Multiple Sheets in Google Sheets

You can apply conditional formatting to multiple sheets in Google Sheets in the same way as you do in Excel.

Copy Conditional Formatting From One Cell

Copy-Paste

If you already have a cell or column with a Conditional Formatting rule set up, you can use Copy-Paste to copy the rule to another sheet.

  1. Right-click on a cell that has the conditional formatting rule applied to it and click Copy (or use the keyboard shortcut CTRL + C).

  1. Select the sheet you require and then select the cell or cells in that sheet where you wish to apply the conditional formatting rule. Select Paste special > Format only (or use the keyboard shortcut CTRL + ALT + V).

The conditional formatting rule will then be applied to the entire column you have selected.

Paint Format

If you already have a cell or column with a conditional formatting rule set up, you can use Paint Format to copy the rule to another column.

  1. Select the cell with the relevant conditional formatting rule. Then in the Menu, select Paint Format.

  1. Select the destination sheet, then highlight the cells to copy the conditional formatting rule to.

Источник

In this lesson you can learn everything about formatting in Excel.

Formatting can be done in Excel in two ways:

  • Using one of the prepared style (tables, charts, etc.) or
  • Formatting separated elements.

Using the prepared style is comfortable for novice users who use the standard tables or charts. Persons who wish to have full control over the appearance of a worksheet, or documents prepared by them do not fit within the imposed format, choose self-formatting. Using styles is discussed at the end of this lesson.

Method 1 Formatting step by step

Suppose we were asked to prepare a table of data in the system as below. We managed to collect relevant data and paste them into the table. The following table, however, has many drawbacks.

formatting excel table

Change width of columns and rows

We’ll start with the fact that all data and descriptions of the categories are shown. At this time, the data in the cells ‘I23’ and ‘I32’ do not fit in the current column width and have been replaced by Excel on the symbols # # #.Similarly.

The descriptions in cells B10 and B32 are also not shown in its entirety. To expand a column will be most convenient to double-click on the dash between the columns. You can also click and drag the left button to expand the column width to the desired size.

excel formatting table

For columns of equal width, select all of which are to be aligned and drag the width of any of them to the desired size.

Excel format size

Insert / delete rows

The next step is the removal of three rows at the beginning of the table. To do this, select the first three rows of the worksheet, select the rows by clicking on the symbol ‘1 ‘and holding the left mouse button pressed drag the selection to three-line, where he let go hold down the left key. Once selected, click on one of the signs of rows (1.2 or 3) and with the right mouse button menu that will select the Delete option.

Excel format rows delete

Will be deleted as many items as you previously selected. In the same way, you can insert rows or columns (the command ‘Insert’). Let’s insert now one line before the table.

Excel format row insert

Borders

When you insert a row at the beginning of the worksheet, you activate the entire table and clicked on the icon bar arrow next to ‘Borders’ Proposes to select ‘All edges’ (marked in the figure below) for the entire table. Then ‘thick edge of the field’ (the two commands below) to make a bold border.

Excel format all borders

Now you can select only the cells of the column headers and select them again in bold borders. You will do the same for the row. You do not need every time to develop menu Borders, the last of the commands will be executed when you click the selected icons in the figure below.

Excel format headers borders

Border icons provide basic and most frequently used border, but you wanted to take advantage of dual or diagonal lines dividing cells should click with right mouse button on a selected cell, or the previously selected area and a menu that shows up, select ‘Format Cells…’.

Excel format right click format cells

Window appears and ‘Format Cells’ on the ‘border’ you have all the formatting options that Excel offers. First, choose what format the line we are interested in the ‘Style’ and then click on the right side to indicate where the line is to be found, choose a diagonal line marked red square.

Excel format cells dialog box borders

Merge cells

Another operation will merge cells. In cells B2 and B3 are diagonal lines that do not look good.

Excel format diagonal lines

Select the cells you want to merge and click the icon for ‘Merge and center’.

Excel format merge and center

 Excel format right click merge and center

Result merging is presented below. Also merge the cells that contain the repeated column headers.

Excel format header merge and center

A message appears that symbols of 2 cells 1Q with a gray background in the picture above will be deleted. Click OK.

Excel format dialog box merge and center

After the cells merged, I2 and I3, we find that we would prefer to headline 1HY (first half of the year) was displayed at half height of the new merged cell. Click the right mouse button and choose the command ‘Format Cells …’.

Excel format cells merge and center

In the ‘Format Cells’ on the ‘Alignment’ choose ‘agent’ in the menu ‘Vertical’.

Excel format calls alignment vertical center

Change cell background color

Change the background color of a cell or cell area, is to select the cell / area, click on the arrow next to ‘fill color’ (shown in the figure below) and select the desired color.

Excel format cell colour

If we again color the cells of the same color, we need not choose it again, he was remembered, and simply click on the icon ‘fill color’.

Excel formatting colour remembered

Format Painter

If you have some kind of format the cell, column or row and want you to another cell or area have the same format, instead of repeating all the operations from scratch, you better use the Format Painter. Format the line 21, as shown below. For bold, click the icon for B. The next step will be to change the color of cells, so that the aggregated data for the categories stand out.

Excel format painter

Just want to format several other rows. Of course, not every time we repeat the same steps, but we will use the ‘Format Painter’. Select the area of ‘pattern’, i.e. the line of 21st Click the Format Painter icon (paintbrush).

Excel format painter button paintbrush

Click in cell B25 and the entire row of the table takes the appropriate format.

Excel format painter other row

You can copy formatting from one cell immediately adjacent to a larger number of cells and copy the formatting of a larger area to the area. It is not possible to copy the format once again after the first copy, Excel, ‘forget’ model after its first use and the operation must be repeated. Another way to format a number of areas so it is the simultaneous selection before formatting. To select multiple areas at once is enough while selecting with the mouse hold down the Ctrl button.

Grid lines

Reports and tables usually look better if you disable the grid lines. To enable or disable Grid lines tab to select the ‘Page Layout’, ‘Gridlines’, ‘View’.

Excel format grindlines ribbon

Change font size

To change the font in a cell or cell area it is easiest to select an area for which you want to do it, then select the correct size from the drop-down box located in the icons (shown below). I recommend using the icons next to the first of which enlarges the font and the other decreases.

Excel format font size

Hide / unhide rows and columns

Hiding rows or columns is to select them. To select all rows at once and all the columns simply click the left mouse button on the rectangle marked in the figure below a red circle.

Excel format all rows and columns rectangle

To then discover all the rows, click the right mouse button on any determination of the line (below the red circle) and the menu that will select, Discover ‘, do the same for columns to give us the assurance that all cells in the spreadsheet are visible.

Excel format unhide rows

The data in hidden cells remain unchanged and are still employed by the formula. NOTE: The charts in Excel do not use the data in hidden cells.

Avoiding the destruction of formatting

The basic principle should be to format the cell deposition at the end of our work, once we sure that the system will be our report. If we do this earlier, pasting, copying and other operations, they can spoil our format and we have to do it again. Often, however, after the formatting changes are inevitable.

Style

Excel developers have prepared several formats, which can be used in preparing documents in Excel. Their biggest advantage is that inexperienced users can quickly get Excel sheet professional. Styles work correctly only for simple tables or other objects.

Method 2 Formatting as a Table

On the worksheet ‘Format 2’ is a table of data. It contains only one row of column headers and does not have catfished, so it can be formatted as a table. Set the active cell in any table cell and from your ‘Home’ to choose ‘Format as Table’, then choose the color model that suits us.

Excel format as table

A window will appear, in which we are asked to confirm whether the area of the table was properly recognized. Click OK.

Excel format as table formatting

The table is formatted according to the selected model. If it does not suit us, that header cells contain symbols of the filter can be disabled by selecting ‘Sort & Filter’ and then click ‘Filter’.

Excel format sort and filter

When you click the right mouse button on the table, we can add a row sum, as is shown below.

Excel format table right click menu table

Sum which will be introduced only for June, copy to the other months.

Excel format table total row sum only for one column

Exercise can be considered completed.

Excel format table row copied

This way, you can not format the table of Example 1 because it contains two rows of column headers. Example 3 There is a column chart. When you select it (by clicking on it with the left mouse button), command tabs appear: ‘Design’, ‘system’ and ‘Format’. On the ‘Design’ styles will find a chart, click on the arrow marked below the red square to view all available styles.

Excel format column chart styles

Choose the style that suits us and click on it.

Excel format chart style choose one

After changing chart style, even change the font style of his title. Select the title by clicking on it and the cards ‘Format’ select one of the Word Art styles.

Excel format column chart font style word art styles changed

Formatting Excel spreadsheets to be sure the look was tailored to the tasks to be satisfied by a given sheet. A common mistake of beginners is the use of sophisticated style to impress the recipient, but it does only feel the lack of professional approach.

Further reading: 
Status Bar
Keyboard shortcuts
Display Cells Containing Formulas

Often we come across workbooks that have similar formatting needs for multiple worksheets. For eg. you may have sales records spanning across 12 worksheets, one for each month. Now as a loyal reader of chandoo.org, you want to keep the formatting of all these worksheets consistent. So here is a quick tip to begin your work week.

  1. Just select all the different sheets (select one, then hold CTRL key and click on other sheet names).
  2. Now format any sheet and similar formatting will be applied to all selected sheets
  3. See this demo to understand:

Group worksheets to speedup formatting similar data

The group & format technique is particularly useful when you,

  1. Want to apply same header / footer / print settings to multiple worksheets
  2. Want to write similar formulas in multiple worksheets (for eg. totals)

Do you use group sheets option?

I like to have consistent look & feel for all my worksheets. Especially if I am doing it for a client or for a product. So I find group sheets option pretty attractive and productive.

What about you? Do you use it? Share your tips & ideas with us.

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35 Responses to “Formatting Multiple Worksheets? Use Group Sheets option to Speed up [Quick Tip]”

  1. Cyril Z. says:

    Wow!

    I’ve never ever heared of that really powerful tip.

    Thanks (as always) Cahndoo 🙂

  2. I use it, for sure, but I’d also throw out the caution that, as soon as you’re done, UNGROUP them! I’ve destroyed more work by accidentally leaving sheets grouped than I care to remember.
    It drives me crazy that every version of Excel has less contrast on the sheet tabs, which makes it harder and harder to tell if the sheets are grouped. I’m also not a big fan of how the grouped setting persists when the workbook is closed and re-opened.
    It’s a great feature for making consistency, to be sure, but people need to be aware of the dangers of sheets being grouped when you forget to ungroup them.

  3. Josh says:

    That is a very powerful tip, I spent hours just last week formatting things like this, except i was doing it one by one. Does anyone know if this works with formulas too?

  4. Absolutely does, Josh. That’s why my caution. Entering formulas, deleting data, inserting & deleting rows… it all takes effect on the grouped sheets.

  5. Josh says:

    Oh, that could be disastrous… but also very very helpful.

    If you look at the file name at the top of the workbook, it will tell say Book1 [Grouped] meaning that tabs are grouped. Just a quick tip to tell if tabs are grouped or not.

  6. Ken- I think everyone had the problem you mentioned.. I know that drove me crazy every one in awhile when I would forget to ungroup them. Microsoft finally made it easier in Excel 2007, as soon as you click on another sheet, they ungroup — AS LONG AS ALL THE SHEETS HAD BEEN GROUPED ORIGINALLY. If you had some grouped and ungrouped then yes, you need to be very cautious. Another reason for using this is that grouping holds the column and row widths which you would have lost if you had just copied everything onto other sheets.

  7. Aha! Thanks Patricia, I missed that improvement. I guess I always deal with a few subsheets at a time. (Usually have a control panel page in my applications that is formatted differently.) I still wish the contrast on the sheet tabs was more obvious though. 😉

  8. Ken_M says:

    Yes very powerful feature but not without signifigant downside if you need to have some sheets slightly different and you have not ungrouped them as you point out Ken. Patricia Another way to get consistent column widths is to do copy/paste special/column widths but this doesn’t help with rows — I believe there is another method to do this but I cannot recall it. Better contrast would help to alert you to the grouped selection

  9. Amit kachroo says:

    best trick dude::it’s really awesome

  10. Brian says:

    Chandoo mentions that this is useful if you «Want to apply same header / footer / print settings to multiple worksheets». I’ve used this before for entering data on multiple sheets but I have not been able to get it to work for headers/footers. I often receive files that need to be formatted for printing and this tip would be great if I could get it to work. Any suggestions?

  11. Venus says:

    I love this feature when 1) I remember to un-group the sheets, and 2) it actually works. I can’t even consider counting the number of times that I thought I’d reformatted all my worksheets only to move to another tab and find the formatting didn’t «stick». Personally I don’t like that sheets are un-grouped when I click on another sheet, I can’t think of the reason why, but many times I need to go to another sheet in the middle of all the formatting and they become ungrouped. I also become very frustrated when page or print settings don’t apply to all worksheets; it really seems to be a hit-or-miss thing. I must be doing something wrong somewhere 🙂

  12. sanjeev says:

    This function I would say, will only work perfectly if the data range is same in all the sheets which needs to be selected.

  13. Narender kumar Nnada says:

    I am totally new to excell and computer so found this sight highly useful

  14. Bhupender Rao Y says:

    It’s really useful tip for everyone……

  15. Oatmeal says:

    Great tool … have used it lots!
    If you get one worksheet totally formatted, easiest way to clone them is to right click, Move or Copy Worksheet, click on what order you want it inserted click the little box at the bottom left that says «Create a Copy» and click OK — it’s cloned. Just do this a couple of times, then select the ones you already have cloned and do the right click, Move or Copy Worksheet and it clones that many at a time.

  16. Oatmeal says:

    Brian, try this:
    Select all the tabs you want to have the same footer, click on Page Layout ribbon, click the little box to the right of the Page Setup heading at the bottom of the Page Layout section and the old-fashioned Excel Page Setup option screen shows up.
    Click on Headers & Footers, make the headers/footers that you want, and click OK. The headers/footers on all the selected tabs will be uniform!
    Note: Make sure you unselect the tabs so any other changes you make don’t show up on all those tabs!
    Cheers (from snowy Seattle!)

  17. Becky says:

    Thank you for this lesson. I would like to learn how to apply VLOOKUP formula on a summary tab and the data are in each individual tab let’s just say 20 tabs within one Excel file. Is that possible?

    Thanks.

  18. archana says:

    this was really a great tip .because i spent much by doing this on each sheet thanks chandoo.

  19. Richard says:

    First time on this site — will keep close eye on

  20. Firestorm says:

    I am a blind user of excel and this is an amazing tip, is there a way to do this with the keyboard? What about selecting non contineous worksheets in a workbook? Again using the keyboard, using the mouse makes it much simpler. Unfortunately not in a position to do so after losing eyesight.

    • @Firestorm

      As a blind reader do you use «Reading» software to read Chandoo.org ?

      Are the posts written in a style that is easily read?

      Any other comments ?

      Hui…

  21. JoseLuis says:

    Great tip Chandoo!

    I have been teaching Excel since 2003 version and never heard of this one.
    Thanks a lot.  

  22. tink says:

    This is an awesome tip I have been searching for daily for awhile now.  Not sure why or how I found this site at this time but I am so thankful for it.

    Thank you all for insights, tips and pointers.  It has been most helpful.  I will continue to frequent this site often as the position I recently acquired uses Excel extensively.

    Again, thank you everyone, You are all awesome!     

  23. Chan says:

    awesome tip..

    is it possible to do conditional formatting for multiple sheets also?

  24. Idris says:

    Its Helpful,
    But whenever i click on other sheet the grouping get back to compatibility mode, so is there any option to keep sheet grouping even if we click on other sheets.

  25. vilaskar says:

    can you provide me Agewise based discounts tables in Excel

  26. Carys says:

    Hi- This is brilliant thank you! please can you help further? I have a workbook with 12 tabs (one for each month). I frequently need to make the same change to all, so I’m trying to use this method. Some cells are protected, so the group edit won’t work. Is there any way of unprotecting all 12 as a group, in order to make changes, and then re-protecting them please?

  27. ken says:

    I’m trying to handle something along these lines but with a twist.  Backgorund, we areattempting to process logs of data in excell for debugging.  e.g. 30 columns of data and hundreds or thousands of rows.  Brute force approach, select column then apply ‘highlight cells rules’ to conditional format data in that column.  Different columns get different rules to apply formatting.  Ideally I could automate this with for instance a template to apply to a worksheet when I open the log file.  I could define a macro but wonder if this is the recommended approach.

  28. Abinash says:

    Hi Chandoo,
    I am finding short cut key to group or ungroup sheets. Can you help me?

  29. Bala says:

    Wow! This helped.
    You saved a lot of my time.
    Thanks.

  30. saureign says:

    in Excel 2010, it’s best to use ‘black’ theme. This way, the grouped sheets are clearly visible.

  31. Rob says:

    I’m trying to format multiple (110) sheets to fit on one page each, but when changing a scaling option on multiple sheets, the headers all change to the header on the first sheet selected. I want to scale each sheet (group of 110 sheets) to one page wide each without changing headers on any of the sheets. I can’t find an answer anywhere. Anyone happen to know a resolution?

  32. Tsar Joseph Terungwa says:

    A very useful and comprehended page, i love it

Leave a Reply


Formatting

Excel has many ways to format and style a spreadsheet.

Why format and style your spreadsheet?

  • Make it easier to read and understand
  • Make it more delicate

Styling is about changing the looks of cells, such as changing colors, font, font sizes, borders, number formats, and so on.

The most used styling functions are:

  • Colors
  • Fonts
  • Borders
  • Number formats
  • Grids

There are two ways to access the styling commands in Excel:

  1. The Ribbon
  2. Formatting menu, by right clicking cells

Read more about the Ribbon in the Excel overview chapter.


Styling Commands in Ribbon

The Ribbon can be expanded by clicking the arrow/caret-down icon on the right side. This gives access to more commands:



Styling Commands, Right Clicking Cells

You can also right-click on any cell to style it:

Styling commands can be accessed from both views.


Chapter summary

Formatting is used to make spreadsheets more readable. There are many ways to add styles. The most common ones are; Color, Font, Number format and Grids.


Spreadsheets are often seen as boring and pure tools of utility. It’s true that they’re useful, but that doesn’t mean that we can’t bring some style and formatting to our spreadsheets.

Excel Formatting IllustrationExcel Formatting IllustrationExcel Formatting Illustration

Good formatting helps your user find meaning in the spreadsheet without going through each and every individual cell. Cells with formatting will draw the viewer’s attention to the important cells.

In this tutorial, we’re going to dive deep into Microsoft Excel spreadsheet formatting. I’ll show you some of the easiest ways to bring formatting to your spreadsheet with just a few clicks. 

How to Format an Excel Spreadsheet (Watch & Learn)

If you want a guided walk through of using Excel formatting, check out the screencast below. I’ll show you many of my favorite tricks for bringing meaning to my spreadsheets. Adding style makes a spreadsheet easier to read and less prone to mistakes, and I’ll show you why in this screencast.

Read on to find out more about the tools that you can use to change the look and feel of an Excel spreadsheet.

Format Based on Cell Type

As you probably know, Excel spreadsheets can contain a variety of data ranging from simple text to complex formulas. These spreadsheets can become complex and used in important decisions.

Formatting Excel spreadsheets isn’t just about making them «pretty.» It’s about using the built-in styles to add meaning. A spreadsheet user should be able to glance at a cell and understand it without having to look at each and every formula.

Above all, styles should be applied consistently. One idea is to use yellow shading each time you’re using a calculation. This helps the user know that the cell’s value could change based upon other cells.

Let’s learn more about the tools you can use to add meaning to your spreadsheet.

How to Use Elements of Style

When you’re thinking about styling a spreadsheet, it helps to know the tools that you can use to add style. Basically, what tools change the look of a spreadsheet? Let’s walk through how to use some of the most popular styling tools.

1. Use Bold, Italic, and Underline

These are the most basic tweaks that you can use, and you’ve probably seen them in practically every app with text editing, like Microsoft Word or Apple Pages.

To apply any of these effects, simply highlight the cells that you want to apply the effects to, and then click on the icons on the Font section of the Home tab.

You probably already know what these three tools do, but how should you use them in a spreadsheet? Here are some ideas on how you can apply those styles:

  • Bold. Draw attention to key cells using bold formatting. Apply bold to totals, key assumptions in your math, and conclusion cells.
  • Italic. I like to use this style for notes or any text that should be less obvious, or build to a larger subtotal. 
  • Underline. Adding an underline is ideal for a summary cell, like a subtotal or conclusion.

In the example below, you can see a simple financial statement for a freelancer, before and after I apply basic formatting. The combination of bold, italic, and underline effects really make the information more readable.

Bold italic and underline examplesBold italic and underline examplesBold italic and underline examples

The combination of bold, italic, and underline text makes this example spreadsheet easier to read.

2. Apply Borders

Borders help to segment your data and wall it off from other sections of data in your spreadsheet. Excel’s border tool can apply a variety of borders, but is a bit tricky to get started with. 

First, start off by highlighting the cells that you want to apply a border to. Then, find the Borders dropdown menu and choose one of the built-in styles.

Border Options HereBorder Options HereBorder Options Here

There are a variety of built-in border options from the «Borders» dropdown.

As you can see from the dropdown options, there are many options for applying borders. Simply click on one of these border options to apply it to cells. 

One of my favorite border styles is the Top and Double Bottom Border style. This is ideal particularly for financial data when you’ve got a «grand total.»

Another option is to change the weight and color of the border. With the bordered cells selected, return to the Borders dropdown menu. The Line Color and Line Style settings can be used to tweak the style of borders.

Border Added to cellsBorder Added to cellsBorder Added to cells

Adding the top and double bottom border to my total is a great way to bring attention to those cells.

Thick borders are ideal for setting a boundary for header columns, or the subtotal at the bottom of your data.

3. Use Shading

Shading, also often called fill, is simply a color that you apply to the background of a cell. To shade a cell, click and highlight any cells that you want to add shading too.

Then, click the arrow next to the paint bucket dropdown on the Font tab on the Home ribbon. You can pick from one of the many color thumbnails to apply it to a cell. I also will frequently use the More Colors option to open a fully-featured color selection tool. Light shades are best to keep text readable.

Excel cell shading exampleExcel cell shading exampleExcel cell shading example

Shading key rows really brings some much-needed contrast to data.

Again, you can highlight key data using shading. As I mentioned earlier, one idea is to use a consistent fill based on the contents of the cell, such as blue for any «input» fields where you manually type data.

Don’t overdo it with shading. With too many of these applied to your cells, it distracts from the content that’s stored inside the spreadsheet.

4. Change Alignment

Alignment refers to the way that the content in a cell is aligned to the edges. You can left align, center, or right align text. By default, content is left aligned in a cell. When you’ve got  large data sets, you might want to tweak alignment to enhance readability.

One common tweak that I make is putting text on the left edge of a cell, while numeric amounts should be right-aligned. Also, column headers look great when they’re centered up at the top.

Alignment exampleAlignment exampleAlignment example

Alignment helps to make a spreadsheet look much neater, such as centering column headers and right aligning numbers.

Change alignment using the three alignment buttons on the Alignment tab on Excel’s Home ribbon. You can also align content vertically, adjusting if the content aligns to the top, middle, or bottom of the cell.

How to Use Built-in Cell Styles

One of my favorite ways to style a spreadsheet rapidly is to use some of the built-in styles that Excel has. On the Home tab, click on the Cell Styles dropdown to apply one of the built-in styles to a cell.

Built in Excel cell stylesBuilt in Excel cell stylesBuilt in Excel cell styles

The built-in styles are the best way to create Excel formatting quickly.

Using these pre-built styles is a major time savings versus designing them from scratch. Use these as a way to take a shortcut to a more meaningful spreadsheet.

How to Achieve Faster Excel Formatting in Excel with Format Painter

Who wants to recreate Excel cell styles over and over again? Instead of recreating the wheel for each cell, you can use the Format Painter to pick up formatting and apply it to other cells.

Format PaintedFormat PaintedFormat Painted

In the bottom screenshot, I’ve format painted the «Sales Team Review» section onto the «Marketing Team Review» section to paint the same style.

Start off by clicking in the cell that has the format that you want to copy. Then, find the Format Painter tool on the Home tab on Excel’s ribbon. Click on the Format Painter, then click on the cell that you want to apply the same style to.

How to Turn Off Gridlines

As you probably already know, a spreadsheet is made up of rows and columns. Rows are ruled by horizontal lines and have numbers next to them. Columns are split with vertical lines and have letters at the top to refer to them.

Where rows and columns meet, cells are formed. Cells have names for which row and column they intersect. For example, where row 4 and column B meet is called B4. 

Gridlines in Excel are one of the defining features of a spreadsheet. They make it easy to follow data across the screen into a cell. These lines are imaginary and only visible on screen. However, you might want to turn off gridlines for a stylistic effect.

No gridlinesNo gridlinesNo gridlines

On the right side, you can see that summary tables are a bit easier to read when you turn off the spreadsheet’s gridlines.

Print with Gridlines

What if you wanted to show gridlines throughout the spreadsheet when you print it? Instead of having to manually add borders to each and every cell, you can simply print your workbook and include those gridlines.

To turn on gridlines when printing, start by going to the Print option. Then, click on Page Setup to open the settings.

On the Sheet tab, tick the box labeled Gridlines to include gridlines when you print your Excel workbook.

Print with Gridlines Microsoft ExcelPrint with Gridlines Microsoft ExcelPrint with Gridlines Microsoft Excel

On the Page Setup box, tick Gridlines to add them to your printed copy.

Keep in mind that this option will certainly use more ink when printing. However, it also might make it easier to read your printed spreadsheet.

How to Format Excel Data as Table

One of my favorite ways to style a dataset quickly is to use the Format as Table dropdown option. With just a couple of clicks, you can transform a few rows and columns into a structured data table.

Excel convert to tableExcel convert to tableExcel convert to table

You can convert flat data into a table with the Format as Table option on the Home tab of Excel’s ribbon.

This feature works best when you already have data in a set of rows and columns and want to apply a uniform style. It’s a combination of style and functionality, as tables add other features like automatic filtering buttons.

Learn more about why tables are a great feature in the tutorial below:

How to Use Conditional Formatting in Excel

What if the format for a cell could change based on the data that’s inside of it? This feature is built into Excel and is called Conditional Formatting. It’s easier to get started with than you may think.

Imagine using Conditional Formatting to highlight the top and bottom values in your cells. It makes it easy to visually scan your data and look for key indicators.

Conditional Formatting ExampleConditional Formatting ExampleConditional Formatting Example

Conditional formatting in Excel can really make it easy to visually scan a set of data and look for trends.

Conditional Formatting is best used with numerical data. To get started, simply highlight a column of data and make sure that you’re on the Home tab on Excel’s ribbon.

There are a number of styles that you can choose from the Conditional Formatting dropdown menu. Each of these applies a different style of Excel formatting to your cells, but each will adapt based on the cells that you’ve highlighted.

Conditional Formatting TypesConditional Formatting TypesConditional Formatting Types

There are a variety of conditional formatting styles, including icons that will adjust based on the data.
These are just a few tips to get started with conditional formatting in Excel. Check out the guide below to learn more about how to apply smart styles to your cells.

Recap & Keep Learning

Spreadsheets are often seen as boring and pure tools of utility. Sure, they’re very useful for organizing data or making calculations. That doesn’t mean that we can’t bring some style and Excel formatting to our spreadsheets.

When we do formatting the right way, it adds a second layer of meaning to a spreadsheet. Formatting isn’t a random exercise; it’s a way of using targeted styles to signal what type of data is in a cell.

Check out these other tutorials if you want to level up your Microsoft Excel skills and master spreadsheets:

What are your favorite Excel formatting tips? How do you make sure that the right cells stand out to your user? Let me know in the comments section below.

Did you find this post useful?

Andrew Childress

I believe that life is too short to do just one thing. In college, I studied Accounting and Finance but continue to scratch my creative itch with my work for Envato Tuts+ and other clients. By day, I enjoy my career in corporate finance, using data and analysis to make decisions.

I cover a variety of topics for Tuts+, including photo editing software like Adobe Lightroom, PowerPoint, Keynote, and more. What I enjoy most is teaching people to use software to solve everyday problems, excel in their career, and complete work efficiently. Feel free to reach out to me on my website.

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