Format setting in excel

Application examples of formatting Excel data of various types for computationally intensive calculations.

Changing of cells format in data tables

Format Painter in Excel for table layout.
Multiple copies of table cell formats on multiple sheets using the Format Painter tool. Copying the width of columns and rows of a sheet.

Influence of the cell format on working of the SUM function.
The possible errors in the summation, where there is a comma instead of a dot. Quick search of incorrect fractional numbers. Automatic assignment of the cell formats with the SUMM function.

Transfer of data from one Excel table to another one.
You can transfer table data within one sheet, as well as to another sheet or to another file. In this case, you can copy either the entire table, or its individual values, properties or parameters.



Home / Advanced Excel / Auto Format Option

Formatting is a tedious task. It’s really hard to format your data whenever you present it to someone. But, this is the only thing that makes your data more meaning full, and easy to consume.

It would be great if you have an option that you can use to format your data without spending much time. So, when it comes to Excel, you have an amazing option that can help you to format your data in no time.

Its name is AUTO FORMAT. In auto-format, you have several pre-designed formats which you can apply to your data instantly.

All you have to do just select a format and click OK to apply. It’s simple and easy. In all the pre-designed formats you have all the important components of formatting, like:

• Number Formatting
• Borders
• Fonts Style
• Patterns and Background Color
• Text Alignment
• Column and Row size

In this post, you will learn about this amazing option that can help you to save a ton of time in the coming days.

Quick Note: It’s one of those Excel Tricks that can help to get better at Basic Excel Skills. So, let’s get started…

Where to Find AUTO FORMAT Option?

If you check Excel 2003 version, the auto- format option is there on the menu. But, with the release of 2007 with ribbon this option is not available in any of the tabs.

That doesn’t mean you can’t use it in earlier versions. It’s still there, but hidden. So, to use it in Excel versions like 2007, 2010, 2013, and 2016 you need to add it to your Excel’s quick access toolbar. It’s a one-time setup so you don’t have to do it again and again.

Add Auto Format on Quick Access Toolbar

To add the auto format to your quick access toolbar please follow these steps.

• First of all, go to your quick access toolbar and click on the small down arrow from the endpoint of the toolbar.

• And, when you click on it, you will get a drop-down menu.

• From this menu, click on “More Commands”.

• Once you click on it, it will open “Customize the Quick Access Toolbar” in the excel options.
• From here, click on the “Choose commands from” drop-down and select “Commands Not in the Ribbon”.

• After that, come to the list of commands you have right below this drop-down.
• And, select the “Auto Format” option and add it to the quick access toolbar.

• Click OK.

Now, you have the auto-format icon in your quick access toolbar.

How to use Auto Format?

Applying formats with an auto-format option is super simple. Let’s say you want to format below data table.

Download this file from here to follow along and follow the below steps to format the table.

• Select any of the cells from your data.

• Go to the quick access toolbar and click on the auto-format button.

• Now, you have a window, where you have different data formats.
• Select one of them and click OK.

• Once you click OK, it will instantly apply your chosen format to the data.

How to Modify a Format in Auto Format

As I mentioned above, all the formats in the auto format are a combination of 6 different components. And you can also add or remove these components from each format before applying them.

Let’s say, you want to add formatting to the below data table but without changing its font style and column width. You need to apply formatting using the below steps.

• Select your data and click on the auto-format button.
• Select a format to apply and click on the “Options” button.
• From options, un-tick “Font” and “Width/Height”.

• And, click OK.

Now, both of the components are not there in your formatting.

Removing Formatting

Well, to remove formatting from data the best way is to use a shortcut key Alt + H + E + F. But you can also use the auto format option to remove formatting from your data.

• Select your entire data and open auto format.
• Go to the last in the format list where you have a “None” format.

• Select it and click OK.

Important Points

1. The auto-format is not able to recognize if you already have some formatting on your data. It will ignore and apply new formatting as per the format you have selected.
2. You need at least 2 cells to apply formatting with the auto-format option.

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.

This tutorial about cell format types in Excel is an essential part of your learning of Excel and will definitely do a lot of good to you in your future use of this software, as a lot of tasks in Excel sheets are based on cells format, as well as several errors are due to a bad implementation of it.

A good comprehension of the cell format types will build your knowledge on a solid basis to master Excel basics and will considerably save you time and effort when any related issue occurs.

A- Introduction

Excel software formats the cells depending on what type of information they contain.

To update the format of the highlighted cell, go to the “Home” tab of the ribbon and click, in the “Number” group of commands on the “Number Format” drop-down list.

The drop-down list allows the selection to be changed.

Cell formatting options in the “Number Format” drop-down list are:

• General
• Number
• Currency
• Accounting
• Short Date
• Long Date
• Time
• Percentage
• Fraction
• Scientific
• Text
• And the “More Number Formats” option.

Clicking the “More Number Formats” option brings up additional options for formatting cells, including the ability to do special and custom formatting options.

These options are discussed in detail in the below sections.

Cell format types in Excel are: General, Number, Currency, Accounting, Date, Time, Percentage, Fraction, Scientific, Text, Special (Zip Code, Zip Code + 4, Phone Number, Social Security Number), and Custom. You can get them from the “Number Format” drop-down list in the “Home” tab, or from the launcher arrow below it.

I will detail each one of them in the following sections:

1- General format

By default, cells are formatted as “General”, which could store any type of information. The General format means that no specific format is applied to the selected cell.

When information is typed into a cell, the cell format may change automatically. For example, if I enter “4/4/19” into a cell and press enter, then highlight the cell to view details about it, the cell format will be listed as “Date” instead of “General”.

Similarly, we can update a cell’s format before or after entering data to adjust the way the data appears. Changing the format of a cell to “Currency” will make it so information entered is displayed as a dollar amount.

Typing a number into this cell and pressing enter will not just show that number, but will instead format it accordingly.

Before pressing enter, Excel shows the value which was typed: “4”.

After pressing enter, the value is updated based on the formatting type selected.

Don’t let the format type showed in the illustration at the drop-down list confusing you; it is reflecting the cell below (i.e. E4), since we validated by an Enter.

2- Number format

Cells formatted as numbers behave differently than general formatted cells. By default, when a number is entered, or when a cell is formatted as a number already, the alignment of the information within the cell will be on the right instead of on the left. This makes it easier to read a list of numbers such as the below.

Note in the above screenshot that since we didn’t choose the “Number” format for our cells, they still have a “General” one. They are numbers for Excel (meaning, we can do calculations on them), but they didn’t have yet the number format and its formatting aspects:

You can set the formatting options for Excel numbers in the “Format Cells” dialog box.

To do that, select the cell or the range of cells you want to set the formatting options for their numbers, and go to the “Home” tab of the ribbon, then in the “Number” group of commands, click on the launcher of the dialog box (the arrow on the right-down side of the group).

Excel opens the “Format Cells” dialog box in its “Number” tab. Click in the “Category” pane on “Number”.

• In this dialog box, you can decide how many decimal places to display by updating options in the “Decimal places” field.

Note that this feature is also available in the “Home” tab of the ribbon where you can go to the “Number” group of commands and click the Increase Decimal or Decrease Decimal buttons.

Here is the result of consecutive increasing of decimal places on our example of data (1 decimal; 2 decimals; and 3 decimals):

• You can also decide if commas should be shown in the display as a thousand separator, by updating the “Use 1000 Separator (,)” option in the “Format Cells” dialog box.

This feature is also available in the “Home” tab of the ribbon by clicking the “Comma Style” button  in the “Number” group of commands.

Note that using the Comma Style button will automatically set the format to Accounting.

• Another option from the Format Cells dialog box is to decide how negative numbers should display by using the “Negative numbers” field.

There are four options for displaying negative
numbers.

1. Display
   negative numbers with a negative sign before the number.
2. Display
   negative numbers in red.
3. Display
   negative numbers in parentheses.
4. Display
   negative numbers in red and in parentheses.

3- Currency format

Cells formatted as currency have a currency symbol such as a dollar sign $ immediately to the left of the number in the cell, and contain two numbers after the decimal by default.

The alignment of numbers in currency formatted cells will be on the right for readability.

Currency formatting options are similar to
number formatting options, apart from the currency symbol display.

• As with regular number formatting, you can decide, in the “Format Cells” dialog box, how many decimal places to display by updating the field “Decimal places”.

You can also find this feature in the “Home” tab of the ribbon, by going to the “Number” group of commands and clicking the Increase Decimal or Decrease Decimal .

• You can also decide what currency symbol should be shown in the display by updating the “Symbol” field in the “Format Cells” dialog box.

• As with regular number formatting, you can also decide how negative numbers should display by updating the “Negative numbers” field in the “Format Cells” dialog box.

There are four
options for displaying negative numbers.

1. Display
   negative numbers with a negative sign before the number.
2. Display
   negative numbers in red.
3. Display
   negative numbers in parentheses.
4. Display
   negative numbers in red and in parentheses.

4- Accounting format

Like with the currency format, cells formatted as accounting have a currency symbol such as a dollar sign $; however, this symbol is to the far left of the cell, while the alignment of numbers in the cell is on the right. Accounting numbers contain two numbers after the decimal by default.

Clicking the “Accounting Number Format” button in the “Number” group of commands of the “Home” tab, will quickly format a cell or cells as Accounting.

The down arrow to the right of the Accounting Number Format button allows selection between common symbols used for accounting, including English (dollar sign), English (pound), Euro, Chinese, and French symbols.

Accounting formatting options in the “Format Cells” dialog box (“Home” tab of the ribbon, in the “Number” group of commands, click on the launcher of the “Number Format” dialog box), are similar to number and currency formatting options.

• You can decide how many decimal places to display by updating its option in the “Format Cells” dialog box.

As mentioned before in this tutorial, this feature is also available directly in the “Home” tab of the ribbon by clicking the Increase Decimal or Decrease Decimal buttons in the “Number” group of commands.

• You can also decide in the “Format Cells” dialog box, what currency symbol should be shown in the display by using the “Symbol” drop-down list.
  This dropdown gives a much broader list of options than the “Accounting Number Format” option in the “Home” tab of the ribbon.

Note that with the Accounting formatting option, negative numbers display in parentheses by default. There are not options to change this.

5- Date format

There are options for “Short Date” and “Long Date” in the “Number Format” dropdown list of the “Home” tab.

Short date shows the date with slashes separating month, day, and year. The order of the month and day may vary depending on your computer’s location settings.

Long date shows the date with the day of the week, month, day, and year separated by commas.

More options for formatting dates are available in the “Format Cells” dialog box (accessible by clicking in the “Number Format” dropdown list of the “Home” tab and choosing the “More Number Formats” option at the bottom).

• You can choose from a long list of available date formats.

• You can update the location settings used for formatting the date. This will alter the list of format options in the above list and will adjust the display and potentially the order of the elements (day, month, year) within the date.
  Note the below example when we switch from English (United States) format to English (United Kingdom) format.

6- Time format

Cells formatted as time display the time of
day. The default time display is based on your computer’s location settings.

Time formatting options are available in the “Format Cells” dialog box (accessible by choosing the “More Number Formats” option at the bottom of the “Number Format” dropdown list in the “Home” tab of the ribbon).

• You can choose from a long list of available time formats.

• You can update the location settings used for formatting the time. This will alter the list of format options in the above list and will adjust the display.

7- Percentage format

Cells formatted as percentage display a percent sign to the right of the number. You can change the format of a cell to a percentage using the “Number Format” dropdown list, or by clicking the “Percent Style” button . Both options are accessible from the “Home” tab of the ribbon, in the “Number” group of commands.

Note that updating a number to a percentage
will expect that the number already contains the decimal. For example:

A cell containing the value 0.08, as a percentage, will show 8%.

A cell containing the value 8, as a percentage, will show 800%.

Percentage formatting options are available in the “Format Cells” dialog box, accessible by clicking on “More Number Formats” of the “Number Format” dropdown list in the “Home” tab of the ribbon.

8- Fraction format

Cells formatted as a fraction display with a slash
symbol separating the numerator and denominator.

Fraction formatting options are available in the “Format Cells” dialog box, accessible by clicking in the “Home” tab of the ribbon, on “More Number Formats” of the “Number Format” dropdown list.

• Note that
  when selecting the format to use for a fraction, Excel will round to the
  nearest fraction where the formatting criteria can be met.

As an example, if the
formatting option selected is “Up to one digit”, entering a fraction with two
digits will cause rounding to occur. For example, with the setting of “Up to
one digit”,

If we enter a value of 7/16, the value displayed will be 4/9, as converting to 9ths was the option with only one digit which required the least amount of rounding.

For another example, if the formatting option selected is “As quarters”, entering a fraction that cannot be expressed in quarters (divisible by four) will also cause rounding to occur.

If we enter a value of 5/8, the value displayed will be 3/4. Excel rounded up to 6/8, or 3/4, which was the closest option divisible by four.

• Also note
  that for the formatting options with “Up to x digits”, Excel will always round
  down to the lowest exact equivalent fraction when possible.

For example, if we enter a value of 2/4 with one of these formatting options active, the value displayed will be 1/2, as this is the mathematical equivalent. This behavior will not take place for formatting options “As…”, since these specifically determine what the denominator should be.

• Fractions listed as more than a whole (meaning the numerator is a higher number than the denominator), such as 7/4 will automatically be adjusted into a whole number and a fraction 13/4, where the fraction follows the formatting rules selected.

9- Scientific format

Scientific format, otherwise known as
Exponential Notation, allows very large and small numbers to be accurately
represented within a cell, even when the size of the cell cannot accommodate
the size of the numbers.

The way exponential notation works is to theoretically place a decimal in a spot that would make the number shorter, then describe where to move that decimal to return to the original number.

Examples with large numbers, where the decimal is moved to the left:

For the number 300 to be expressed in
exponential notation, Excel moves the decimal from after the whole number
300.00 to between the 3 and the 00. This is typed out as E+02 since the decimal
was moved two places to the left. The other examples are similar, where the
decimal was moved 6 and 12 places to the left.

Examples with small numbers, where the decimal is moved to the right:

For the number 0.2 to be expressed in
exponential notation, Excel moves the decimal to create a whole number 2. This
is typed out as E-01 since the decimal was moved one place to the right. The
other examples are similar, where the decimal was moved 4 and 10 places to the
right.

Scientific formatting options are listed in the “Format Cells” dialog box, accessible by going to the “Home” tab of the ribbon, and clicking the “More Number Formats” option of the “Number Format” dropdown list.

The only option available is to alter the
number of decimal places shown in the number prior to the scientific notation.

For example, for the value 11.43 formatted with the scientific format, if we change the Decimal places from 2 to 1, the display will change as follows.

Two decimals:  

One decimal:    

10- Text format

Cells can be formatted as Text through the
“Number Format” dropdown list, in the “Number” group of commands of the “Home”
tab.

Using the Text format in Excel allows values to be entered as they are, without Excel changing them per the above formatting rules.

In general, when entering a text in a cell, you won’t need to set its type to “Text”, as the default format type “General” is sufficient in most cases.

This may be useful when you want to display numbers with leading zeros, want to have spaces before or after numbers or letters, or when you want to display symbols that Excel normally uses for formulas.

Below are examples of some fields formatted as Text.

Note that when a number is formatted as Text, Excel will display a symbol showing that there could be a possible error .

Clicking the cell, then clicking the pop-up icon will show what the error may be and offer suggestions for resolution.

11- Special format

Special format offers four options in the “Format Cells” dialog box, accessible by going to the “Home” tab of the ribbon, and clicking the launcher arrow in the “Number” group of commands.

• Zip Code

When less than five numbers are entered in Zip
Code format, leading zeros will be added to bring the total to five numbers.

When more than five numbers are entered in Zip Code format, all numbers will be displayed, even though this does not meet the format criteria.

• Zip Code + 4

Zip Code + 4 format automatically creates a
dash symbol – before the last four numbers in the zip code.

When less than nine numbers are entered in Zip
Code + 4 format, leading zeros will be added to bring the total to nine
numbers.

When more than nine numbers are entered in Zip Code + 4 format, extra numbers are displayed prior to the dash symbol –.

• Phone Number

Phone Number format automatically creates a
dash –
before the last four numbers in the phone number. This format also adds
parentheses ( ) around the area code when an area code is entered.

When less than the expected number of digits
are entered in Phone Number format, only the entered digits will be displayed,
starting from the end of the phone number, as shown on the third and fourth
lines, below.

When more than the expected number of digits
are entered in Phone Number format, extra numbers are displayed within the area
code parentheses.

Note that Phone Number format in Excel does not handle the number 1 before an area code. This entry would be treated like any other extra number.

• Social Security Number

Social Security Number format automatically
creates a dash – before the last four numbers in the social security number
and a dash before the last six numbers in the social security number.

When less than nine numbers are entered in
Social Security Number format, leading zeros will be added to bring the total
to nine numbers.

When more than nine numbers are entered in Social Security Number format, extra numbers are displayed prior to the first dash –.

12- Custom format

Custom formats can be used or added through the
“Format Cells” dialog box, accessible from the “Number” group of commands in
the “Home” tab of the ribbon by clicking the “Number Format” launcher arrow.

This can be useful if the above formatting options do not work for your needs. Custom number formats can be created or updated by typing into the “Type” field of the “Format Cells” dialog box.

When creating a new custom format, be sure to use an existing custom format that you are okay with changing.

Custom number formats are separated, at
maximum, into four parts separated by semicolons ; .

• Part 1: How
  to handle positive number values
• Part 2: How
  to handle negative number values
• Part 3: How
  to handle zero number values
• Part 4: How
  to handle text values

Note that if fewer parts are included in the custom format coding, Excel will determine how best to merge the above options: As an example, if two parts are listed, positive and zero values will be grouped.

Note that Excel may update the formatting of some fields to Custom automatically depending on what actions are taken on the field.

C- Common issues caused by wrong cell format types in Excel

1- Common issues due to wrong cell format types in Excel

The most common problems you may encounter with a wrong cell format type in Excel are of 3 types:
– Getting a wrong value.
– Getting an error.
– Formula displayed as-is and not calculated.

Let’s illustrate these 3 cases with some examples:

• Getting a wrong value

This may occur when you enter a value in an already formatted cell with an inappropriate format type, or when you apply a different format to a cell already containing a value.

The following table details some examples:

• Getting an error

This occurs when you enter a text preceded with a symbol of a dash, or plus, or equal, as an element of a list.

Excel wrongly interprets the text as a formula and show the error “The formula contains unrecognized text”.

• Formula displayed as-is and not calculated

In the following example, we tried to calculate the total of prices from cell B2 to B6 using the Excel SUM function, but Excel doesn’t calculate our formula and just displayed it as-is.

The source of the problem is that the result cell, B7, was previously formatted as text before entering the formula.

2- How to correct wrong cell format type issues in Excel

To correct cell format type issues in Excel, apply the right format in the “Number Format” drop-down list, and sometimes, you’ll also need to re-enter the content of the cell. For cells with formulas displayed as text, choose the “General” format, then double click in the cell and press Enter.

Помогла ли Вам статья?

Для того, чтобы программа Эксель правильно идентифицировала данные в ячейках таблицы, что особо актуально при работе с формулами и функциями, пользователь должен определиться и указать, какие значения в них содержатся: текстовые, числовые, денежные и т.д. В противном случае, вероятнее всего, будут ошибки. Итак, давайте посмотрим, каким образом можно задавать и изменять формат ячеек в Excel.

Виды форматов ячеек

Для начала перечислим основные форматы ячеек, которые доступны в табличном редакторе:

• Общий;
• Числовой;
• Денежный;
• Финансовый;
• Дата;
• Время;
• Процентный;
• Дробный;
• Экспоненциальный;
• Текстовый;
• Дополнительный.

Примечание: для большинства из перечисленных форматов можно настроить вид отображения данных (например, “Дата”). Ненастраиваемыми являются форматы: Общий и Текстовый.

Давайте теперь перейдем, непосредственно, к методами изменения формата ячеек.

Данный метод является самым распространенным среди пользователей. Вот что мы делаем:

1. Щелкаем правой кнопкой мыши по ячейке, формат которой требуется задать/изменить, и в появившемся списке команд выбираем “Формат ячеек”.Если данное действие требуется выполнить для диапазона ячеек, сначала любым удобным способом выделяем его, после чего, также, правой кнопкой мыши кликаем по любому месту внутри выделенной области и выбираем нужный пункт.
2. На экране отобразится окно “Формат ячеек”. Автоматически должна быть выбрана вкладка “Число” (если по каким-то причинам этого не произошло, переключаемся в нее). В перечне слева определяемся с форматом, после чего справа задаем детальные параметры (если предлагаются). По готовности щелкаем OK.
3. В результате нам удалось сменить формат ячеек (в нашем случае – числовой, с разделителем разрядов, две цифры после запятой).

Метод 2: применение инструментов на лене

На ленту программы Excel разработчики вынесли самые популярные функции и команды, в т.ч., здесь есть кнопки для изменения формата ячеек.

Блок “Число”

1. Выбрав ячейку или выделив определенный диапазон во вкладке “Главная” в группе инструментов “Число” щелкаем по стрелке вниз рядом с текущим форматом.
2. Раскроется список вариантов (можно прокручивать вверх-вниз), среди которых выбираем нужный.Примечание: Данный способ позволяет выбрать только форматы в их базовом виде. Для их более детальной настройки нам нужны “Другие числовые форматы”.В результате, перед нами появится то же самое окно форматирования, которое мы уже рассмотрели в первом методе.

Блок “Ячейки”

1. Производим выделение требуемой ячейки/диапазона и в главной вкладке в блоке инструментов “Ячейки” щелкаем по кнопке “Формат”.
2. В появившемся списке кликаем по строке “Формат ячеек”.
3. И снова откроется окно форматирования, в котором мы можем выполнить требуемые настройки.

Метод 3: использование горячих клавиш

Комбинации клавиш позволяют пользователям быстрее выполнять популярные команды или запускать распространенные функции. Для смены формата ячеек также предусмотрено отдельное сочетание.

1. Как и в методах выше, для начала выделяем ячейку или диапазон.
2. Затем нажимаем клавиши Ctrl+1.
3. Откроется уже хорошо знакомое окно, где можно выбрать тип данных и настроить их отображение.

Примечание: Чаще всего, комбинации Ctrl+1 достаточно. Для тех, кто еще больше хочет ускорить работу, предусмотрены следующие горячие клавиши, позволяющие выбрать формат (основной вид) без открытия соответствующего окна:

• Ctrl+Shift+1 – числовой (с разделителем и двумя цифрами после запятой);
• Ctrl+Shift+4 – дата (ДД.ММ.ГГГГ);
• Ctrl+Shift+5 – процентный (без десятичных знаков);
• Ctrl+Shift+6 – время (Часы:Минуты).

Заключение

Таким образом, изменение формата ячеек в Эксель – процедура, которую можно выполнить разными способами. Каждый пользователь может выбрать для себя тот, который покажется наиболее удобным и быстрым.

It may seem like an insignificant matter, but getting your Office applications set up properly before you start working is a smart move. Think about all the times you have had to change formatting options on existing workbooks and tally up that time — it adds up.

Three tips that will help you to reset Excel’s default formatting. Set them once, and never again.

#1: Setting Formatting Options for Workbooks

Excel does not offer many options that allow you to set formatting defaults for your workbooks. However, you can work around this by modifying the formatting in a blank workbook, then saving it as the default template.

1. Open Excel to a blank workbook.
2. Format the blank file with all options desired. For example, set margins, cell color formats, or set up a header or footer. Make sure to remove any values you entered in cells to test formatting unless you want them to appear in every blank workbook.
3. Once your changes are made, click on the File tab and choose Save As.
4. From the “Files of type” drop-down list, select “Excel Template (*.xltx)” and change the file name to “Book.”

1. Set the “Save in” location to theXLSTART folder. This folder is typicallylocated in a path similar to C:Program Files/Microsoft Office/Office14/XLSTART.
   • The quickest way to find its location is to use the Immediate window in the Visual Basic Editor (VBE), as follows:
   • Press [Alt]+[F11] to launch the VBE.
   • If the Immediate window isn’t visible, press [Ctrl]+g.
   • In the Immediate window, type ? application. StartupPath and press Enter.
     VBA will display the path to XLStart.
   • 
2. Click Save.
3. Quit and re-open Excel. The blank workbook should contain the formatting you previously set.

#2: Changing the Default Font for New Workbooks

We all have our quirks; that’s what makes us unique. One of these things can be the font you choose as your default. To change the default font used in new workbooks in Excel, follow these steps:

1. Click on the File tab.
2. Select Options at the bottom left.
3. Under General options there is a section for “When creating new workbooks.”
4. Here you can select the option to change the font and font size for all new workbooks.
5. Click OK.
6. Close and re-open Excel.

After you restart Excel, any new workbook you create will be set for the new font properties you selected. Note that existing workbooks will not be affected.

#3: Setting Formatting Options for Workbooks

Why does Excel always open up with three blank worksheets? If you’ve found yourself continually deleting those extra two, stop already. Excel offers a way for you to specify the defaults for new workbooks, which includes number of worksheets. Follow the steps below:

1. Click on the File tab and choose Excel Options.
2. In the General group, navigate to the section titled “When creating new workbooks.”
3. You can change the number of sheets created in a new workbook by changing the “Include this many sheets” option.
4. Click OK after making your selections.
5. Close and re-open Excel.

Excel will use your options from now on when creating a new workbook, saving you time when setting up each new file.

Have any Excel or general Office tips to share? Post them in the comments section.

Also Read

• Advanced Formatting Tricks for Excel users
• Excel Tips for Creating Stylish Spreadsheets
• Excel 2013: Conditional Formatting

Resources: Excel Formatting

Courtesy: vitalyst.com

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