How to make numbers in excel

Available number formats in Excel

In Excel, you can format numbers in cells for things like currency, percentages, decimals, dates, phone numbers, or social security numbers.

Select a cell or a cell range.

On the Home tab, select Number from the drop-down.

Or, you can choose one of these options:

Press CTRL + 1 and select Number.

Right-click the cell or cell range, select Format Cells… , and select Number.

Select the small arrow, dialog box launcher, and then select Number.

Select the format you want.

Number formats

To see all available number formats, click the Dialog Box Launcher next to Number on the Home tab in the Number group.

The default number format that Excel applies when you type a number. For the most part, numbers that are formatted with the General format are displayed just the way you type them. However, if the cell is not wide enough to show the entire number, the General format rounds the numbers with decimals. The General number format also uses scientific (exponential) notation for large numbers (12 or more digits).

Used for the general display of numbers. You can specify the number of decimal places that you want to use, whether you want to use a thousands separator, and how you want to display negative numbers.

Used for general monetary values and displays the default currency symbol with numbers. You can specify the number of decimal places that you want to use, whether you want to use a thousands separator, and how you want to display negative numbers.

Also used for monetary values, but it aligns the currency symbols and decimal points of numbers in a column.

Displays date and time serial numbers as date values, according to the type and locale (location) that you specify. Date formats that begin with an asterisk ( *) respond to changes in regional date and time settings that are specified in Control Panel. Formats without an asterisk are not affected by Control Panel settings.

Displays date and time serial numbers as time values, according to the type and locale (location) that you specify. Time formats that begin with an asterisk ( *) respond to changes in regional date and time settings that are specified in Control Panel. Formats without an asterisk are not affected by Control Panel settings.

Multiplies the cell value by 100 and displays the result with a percent ( %) symbol. You can specify the number of decimal places that you want to use.

Displays a number as a fraction, according to the type of fraction that you specify.

Displays a number in exponential notation, replacing part of the number with E+n, where E (which stands for Exponent) multiplies the preceding number by 10 to the nth power. For example, a 2-decimal Scientific format displays 12345678901 as 1.23E+10, which is 1.23 times 10 to the 10th power. You can specify the number of decimal places that you want to use.

Treats the content of a cell as text and displays the content exactly as you type it, even when you type numbers.

Displays a number as a postal code (ZIP Code), phone number, or Social Security number.

Allows you to modify a copy of an existing number format code. Use this format to create a custom number format that is added to the list of number format codes. You can add between 200 and 250 custom number formats, depending on the language version of Excel that is installed on your computer. For more information about custom formats, see Create or delete a custom number format.

You can apply different formats to numbers to change how they appear. The formats only change how the numbers are displayed and don’t affect the values. For example, if you want a number to show as currency, you’d click the cell with the number value > Currency.

Applying a number format only changes how the number is displayed and doesn’t affect cell values that’s used to perform calculations. You can see the actual value in the formula bar.

Here’s a list of available number formats and how you can use them in Excel for the web:

Default number format. If the cell isn’t wide enough to show the entire number, this format rounds the number. For example, 25.76 shows as 26.

Also, if the number is 12 or more digits, General format displays the value with scientific (exponential) notation.

Works very much like the General format but varies how it shows numbers with decimal place separators and negative numbers. Here are some examples of how both formats display numbers:

Shows a monetary symbol with numbers. You can specify the number of decimal places with Increase Decimal or Decrease Decimal.

Also used for monetary values, but aligns the currency symbols and decimal points of numbers in a column.

Shows date in this format:

Shows month, day and year in this format:

Shows number date and time serial numbers as time values.

Multiplies the cell value by 100 and displays the result with a percent ( %) symbol.

Use Increase Decimal or Decrease Decimal to specify the number of decimal places you want.

Shows the number as a fraction. For example, 0.5 displays as ½.

Displays numbers in exponential notation, replacing part of the number with E+ n, where E (Exponent) multiplies the preceding number by 10 to the nth power. For example, a 2-decimal Scientific format displays 12345678901 as 1.23E+10, which is 1.23 times 10 to the 10th power. To specify the number of decimal places you want to use, apply Increase Decimal or Decrease Decimal.

Treats the cell value as text and displays it exactly as you type it, even when you type numbers. Learn more about formatting numbers as text.

Need more help?

You can always ask an expert in the Excel Tech Community or get support in the Answers community.

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Add numbers in Excel 2013

You can use Excel to add numbers using formulas, buttons, and functions.

Want more?

You can use Excel to add numbers using formulas, buttons, and functions.

Let’s take a look.

You add numbers in cells by using formulas.

A formula always starts with the equals sign. I then enter a number, then a plus sign, then another number, and press Enter.

And the cell displays the results.

You can add many numbers this way, not just two.

Instead of adding numbers within a cell, you can also reference cells to make adding a bit easier.

B2 is equal to 6, B3 is equal to 3

I’ll create a formula that adds the cells.

I start with an equals sign, click a cell that I want to add, then a plus sign, and then another cell, and press Enter.

If I change a number in a cell, the results automatically update.

You can also add many cells this way, not just two.

You can even add cells and numbers.

I start with the equals sign, click a cell I want to add, then a plus sign, then another cell, then another plus sign, the number, and press Enter.

When you double-click a cell, you can see if it has a number or a formula, or you can look up here in the Formula Bar.

AutoSum makes it easy to add adjacent cells in rows and columns.

Click the cell below a column of adjacent cells or to the right of a row of adjacent cells.

Then, on the HOME tab, click AutoSum, and press Enter.

Excel adds all of the cells in the column or row. It’s really handy.

The keyboard shortcut for AutoSum is Alt + =.

You can even select an adjacent group of cells and an extra column and row. Click AutoSum and you get the sum for each row and column, and a grand total.

AutoSum has a number of options.

Choose an option, such as Average, and Excel calculates the average for the row.

To copy a cell and its formula, click the cell, click the bottom right of the cell border so that you see a plus sign, hold down your left mouse button and drag it to the right for a column or down for a row.

And the formula is copied into the new cells.

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Convert numbers stored as text to numbers

Numbers that are stored as text can cause unexpected results, like an uncalculated formula showing instead of a result. Most of the time, Excel will recognize this and you’ll see an alert next to the cell where numbers are being stored as text. If you see the alert, select the cells, and then click to choose a convert option.

Check out Format numbers to learn more about formatting numbers and text in Excel.

If the alert button is not available, do the following:

1. Select a column

Select a column with this problem. If you don’t want to convert the whole column, you can select one or more cells instead. Just be sure the cells you select are in the same column, otherwise this process won’t work. (See «Other ways to convert» below if you have this problem in more than one column.)

2. Click this button

The Text to Columns button is typically used for splitting a column, but it can also be used to convert a single column of text to numbers. On the Data tab, click Text to Columns.

3. Click Apply

The rest of the Text to Columns wizard steps are best for splitting a column. Since you’re just converting text in a column, you can click Finish right away, and Excel will convert the cells.

4. Set the format

Press CTRL + 1 (or + 1 on the Mac). Then select any format.

Note: If you still see formulas that are not showing as numeric results, then you may have Show Formulas turned on. Go to the Formulas tab and make sure Show Formulas is turned off.

Other ways to convert:

You can use the VALUE function to return just the numeric value of the text.

1. Insert a new column

Insert a new column next to the cells with text. In this example, column E contains the text stored as numbers. Column F is the new column.

2. Use the VALUE function

In one of the cells of the new column, type =VALUE() and inside the parentheses, type a cell reference that contains text stored as numbers. In this example it’s cell E23.

3. Rest your cursor here

Now you’ll fill the cell’s formula down, into the other cells. If you’ve never done this before, here’s how to do it: Rest your cursor on the lower-right corner of the cell until it changes to a plus sign.

4. Click and drag down

Click and drag down to fill the formula to the other cells. After that’s done, you can use this new column, or you can copy and paste these new values to the original column. Here’s how to do that: Select the cells with the new formula. Press CTRL + C. Click the first cell of the original column. Then on the Home tab, click the arrow below Paste, and then click Paste Special > Values.

If the steps above didn’t work, you can use this method, which can be used if you’re trying to convert more than one column of text.

Select a blank cell that doesn’t have this problem, type the number 1 into it, and then press Enter.

Press CTRL + C to copy the cell.

Select the cells that have numbers stored as text.

On the Home tab, click Paste > Paste Special.

Click Multiply, and then click OK. Excel multiplies each cell by 1, and in doing so, converts the text to numbers.

Press CTRL + 1 (or + 1 on the Mac). Then select any format.

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Custom Excel number format

by Svetlana Cheusheva, updated on March 20, 2023

This tutorial explains the basics of the Excel number format and provides the detailed guidance to create custom formatting. You will learn how to show the required number of decimal places, change alignment or font color, display a currency symbol, round numbers by thousands, show leading zeros, and much more.

Microsoft Excel has a lot of built-in formats for number, currency, percentage, accounting, dates and times. But there are situations when you need something very specific. If none of the inbuilt Excel formats meets your needs, you can create your own number format.

Number formatting in Excel is a very powerful tool, and once you learn how to use it property, your options are almost unlimited. The aim of this tutorial is to explain the most essential aspects of Excel number format and set you on the right track to mastering custom number formatting.

How to create a custom number format in Excel

To create a custom Excel format, open the workbook in which you want to apply and store your format, and follow these steps:

1. Select a cell for which you want to create custom formatting, and press Ctrl+1 to open the Format Cells dialog.
2. Under Category, select Custom.
3. Type the format code in the Type box.
4. Click OK to save the newly created format.

Done!

Tip. Instead of creating a custom number format from scratch, you choose a built-in Excel format close to your desired result, and customize it.

Wait, wait, but what do all those symbols in the Type box mean? And how do I put them in the right combination to display the numbers the way I want? Well, this is what the rest of this tutorial is all about 🙂

Understanding Excel number format

To be able to create a custom format in Excel, it is important that you understand how Microsoft Excel sees the number format.

An Excel number format consists of 4 sections of code, separated by semicolons, in this order:

POSITIVE; NEGATIVE; ZERO; TEXT

Here’s an example of a custom Excel format code:

1. Format for positive numbers (display 2 decimal places and a thousands separator).
2. Format for negative numbers (the same as for positive numbers, but enclosed in parentheses).
3. Format for zeros (display dashes instead of zeros).
4. Format for text values (display text in magenta font color).

Excel formatting rules

When creating a custom number format in Excel, please remember these rules:

1. A custom Excel number format changes only the visual representation, i.e. how a value is displayed in a cell. The underlying value stored in a cell is not changed.
2. When you are customizing a built-in Excel format, a copy of that format is created. The original number format cannot be changed or deleted.
3. Excel custom number format does not have to include all four sections.

If a custom format contains just 1 section, that format will be applied to all number types — positive, negative and zeros.

If a custom number format includes 2 sections, the first section is used for positive numbers and zeros, and the second section — for negative numbers.

A custom format is applied to text values only if it contains all four sections.
To apply the default Excel number format for any of the middle sections, type General instead of the corresponding format code.

For example, to display zeros as dashes and show all other values with the default formatting, use this format code: General; -General; «-«; General

Note. The General format included in the 2 nd section of the format code does not display the minus sign, therefore we include it in the format code.

For example, to hide zeros and negative values, use the following format code: General; ; ; General . As the result, zeros and negative value will appear only in the formula bar, but will not be visible in cells.

To delete a custom number format, open the Format Cells dialog, select Custom in the Category list, find the format you want to delete in the Type list, and click the Delete button.

Digit and text placeholders

For starters, let’s learn 4 basic placeholders that you can use in your custom Excel format.

Code	Description	Example
0	Digit placeholder that displays insignificant zeros.	#.00 — always displays 2 decimal places. If you type 5.5 in a cell, it will display as 5.50.
#	Digit placeholder that only displays significant digits, without extra zeros. That is, if a number doesn’t need a certain digit, it won’t be displayed.	#.## — displays up to 2 decimal places. If you type 5.5 in a cell, it will display as 5.5. If you type 5.555, it will display as 5.56.
?	Digit placeholder that leaves a space for insignificant zeros on either side of the decimal point but doesn’t display them. It is often used to align numbers in a column by decimal point.	#. — displays a maximum of 3 decimal places and aligns numbers in a column by decimal point.
@	Text placeholder	0.00; -0.00; 0; [Red]@ — applies the red font color for text values.

The following screenshot demonstrates a few number formats in action:

As you may have noticed in the above screenshot, the digit placeholders behave in the following way:

If a number entered in a cell has more digits to the right of the decimal point than there are placeholders in the format, the number is «rounded» to as many decimal places as there are placeholders.

For example, if you type 2.25 in a cell with #.# format, the number will display as 2.3.
All digits to the left of the decimal point are displayed regardless of the number of placeholders.

For example, if you type 202.25 in a cell with #.# format, the number will display as 202.3.

Below you will find a few more examples that will hopefully shed more light on number formatting in Excel.

Format	Description	Input value	Display as
#.00	Always display 2 decimal places.	2 2.5 0.5556	2.00 2.50 .56
#.##	Shows up to 2 decimal places, without insignificant zeros.	2 2.5 0.5556	2. 2.5 0.56
#.0#	Display a minimum of 1 and a maximum of 2 decimal places.	2 2.205 0.555	2.0 2.21 .56
.	Display up to 3 decimal places with aligned decimals.	22.55 2.5 2222.5555 0.55	22.55 2.5 2222.556 .55

Excel formatting tips and guidelines

Theoretically, there are an infinite number of Excel custom number formats that you can make using a predefined set of formatting codes listed in the table below. And the following tips explain the most common and useful implementations of these format codes.

Format Code	Description
General	General number format
#	Digit placeholder that represents optional digits and does not display extra zeros.
0	Digit placeholder that displays insignificant zeros.
?	Digit placeholder that leaves a space for insignificant zeros but doesn’t display them.
@	Text placeholder
. (period)	Decimal point
, (comma)	Thousands separator. A comma that follows a digit placeholder scales the number by a thousand.
	Displays the character that follows it.
» «	Display any text enclosed in double quotes.
%	Multiplies the numbers entered in a cell by 100 and displays the percentage sign.
/	Represents decimal numbers as fractions.
E	Scientific notation format
_ (underscore)	Skips the width of the next character. It’s commonly used in combination with parentheses to add left and right indents, _( and _) respectively.
* (asterisk)	Repeats the character that follows it until the width of the cell is filled. It’s often used in combination with the space character to change alignment.
[]	Create conditional formats.

How to control the number of decimal places

The location of the decimal point in the number format code is represented by a period (.). The required number of decimal places is defined by zeros (0). For example:

• 0 or # — display the nearest integer with no decimal places.
• 0.0 or #.0 — display 1 decimal place.
• 0.00 or #.00 — display 2 decimal places, etc.

The difference between 0 and # in the integer part of the format code is as follows. If the format code has only pound signs (#) to the left of the decimal point, numbers less than 1 begin with a decimal point. For example, if you type 0.25 in a cell with #.00 format, the number will display as .25. If you use 0.00 format, the number will display as 0.25.

How to show a thousands separator

To create an Excel custom number format with a thousands separator, include a comma (,) in the format code. For example:

• #,### — display a thousands separator and no decimal places.
• #,##0.00 — display a thousands separator and 2 decimal places.

Round numbers by thousand, million, etc.

As demonstrated in the previous tip, Microsoft Excel separates thousands by commas if a comma is enclosed by any digit placeholders — pound sign (#), question mark (?) or zero (0). If no digit placeholder follows a comma, it scales the number by thousand, two consecutive commas scale the number by million, and so on.

For example, if a cell format is #.00, and you type 5000 in that cell, the number 5.00 is displayed. For more examples, please see the screenshot below:

Text and spacing in custom Excel number format

To display both text and numbers in a cell, do the following:

• To add a single character, precede that character with a backslash ().
• To add a text string, enclose it in double quotation marks (» «).

For example, to indicate that numbers are rounded by thousands and millions, you can add K and M to the format codes, respectively:

• To display thousands: #.00,K
• To display millions: #.00,,M

Tip. To make the number format better readable, include a space between a comma and backward slash.

The following screenshot shows the above formats and a couple more variations:

And here is another example that demonstrates how to display text and numbers within a single cell. Supposing, you want to add the word «Increase» for positive numbers, and «Decrease» for negative numbers. All you have to do is include the text enclosed in double quotes in the appropriate section of your format code:

#.00″ Increase»; -#.00″ Decrease»; 0

Tip. To include a space between a number and text, type a space character after the opening or before the closing quote depending on whether the text precedes or follows the number, like in «Increase «.

In addition, the following characters can be included in Excel custom format codes without the use of backslash or quotation marks:

Symbol	Description
+ and —	Plus and minus signs
( )	Left and right parentheses
:	Colon
^	Caret
‘	Apostrophe
	Curly brackets
Less-than and greater than signs
=	Equal sign
/	Forward slash
!	Exclamation point
&	Ampersand
Tilde
Space character

A custom Excel number format can also accept other special symbols such as currency, copyright, trademark, etc. These characters can be entered by typing their four-digit ANSI codes while holding down the ALT key. Here are some of the most useful ones:

Symbol	Code	Description
в„ў	Alt+0153	Trademark
В©	Alt+0169	Copyright symbol
В°	Alt+0176	Degree symbol
В±	Alt+0177	Plus-Minus sign
Вµ	Alt+0181	Micro sign

For example, to display temperatures, you can use the format code #»В°F» or #»В°C» and the result will look similar to this:

You can also create a custom Excel format that combines some specific text and the text typed in a cell. To do this, enter the additional text enclosed in double quotes in the 4 th section of the format code before or after the text placeholder (@), or both.

For example, to proceed the text typed in the cell with some other text, say «Shipped in«, use the following format code:

General; General; General; «Shipped in «@

Including currency symbols in a custom number format

To create a custom number format with the dollar sign ($), simply type it in the format code where appropriate. For example, the format $#.00 will display 5 as $5.00.

Other currency symbols are not available on most of standard keyboards. But you can enter the popular currencies in this way:

• Turn NUM LOCK on, and
• Use the numeric keypad to type the ANSI code for the currency symbol you want to display.

Symbol	Currency	Code
€	Euro	ALT+0128
ВЈ	British Pound	ALT+0163
ВҐ	Japanese Yen	ALT+0165
Вў	Cent Sign	ALT+0162

The resulting number formats may look something similar to this:

If you want to create a custom Excel format with some other currency, follow these steps:

How to display leading zeros with Excel custom format

If you try entering numbers 005 or 00025 in a cell with the default General format, you would notice that Microsoft Excel removes leading zeros because the number 005 is same as 5. But sometimes, we do want 005, not 5!

The simplest solution is to apply the Text format to such cells. Alternatively, you can type an apostrophe (‘) in front of the numbers. Either way, Excel will understand that you want any cell value to be treated as a text string. As the result, when you type 005, all leading zeros will be preserved, and the number will show up as 005.

If you want all numbers in a column to contain a certain number of digits, with leading zeros if needed, then create a custom format that includes only zeros.

As you remember, in Excel number format, 0 is the placeholder that displays insignificant zeros. So, if you need numbers consisting of 6 digits, use the following format code: 000000

And now, if you type 5 in a cell, it will appear as 000005; 50 will appear as 000050, and so on:

Tip. If you are entering phone numbers, zip codes, or social security numbers that contain leading zeros, the easiest way is to apply one of the predefined Special formats. Or, you can create the desired custom number format. For example, to properly display international seven-digit postal codes, use this format: 0000000. For social security numbers with leading zeros, apply this format: 000-00-0000.

Percentages in Excel custom number format

To display a number as a percentage of 100, include the percent sign (%) in your number format.

For example, to display percentages as integers, use this format: #%. As the result, the number 0.25 entered in a cell will appear as 25%.

To display percentages with 2 decimal places, use this format: #.00%

To display percentages with 2 decimal places and a thousands separator, use this one: #,##.00%

Fractions in Excel number format

Fractions are special in terms that the same number can be displayed in a variety of ways. For example, 1.25 can be shown as 1 Вј or 5/5. Exactly which way Excel displays the fraction is determined by the format codes that you use.

For decimal numbers to appear as fractions, include forward slash (/) in your format code, and separate an integer part with a space. For example:

• # #/# — displays a fraction remainder with up to 1 digit.
• # ##/## — displays a fraction remainder with up to 2 digits.
• # ###/### — displays a fraction remainder with up to 3 digits.
• ###/### — displays an improper fraction (a fraction whose numerator is larger than or equal to the denominator) with up to 3 digits.

To round fractions to a specific denominator, supply it in your number format code after the slash. For example, to display decimal numbers as eighths, use the following fixed base fraction format: # #/8

The following screenshot demonstrated the above format codes in action:

As you probably know, the predefined Excel Fraction formats align numbers by the fraction bar (/) and display the whole number at some distance from the remainder. To implement this alignment in your custom format, use the question mark placeholders (?) instead of the pound signs (#) like shown in the following screenshot:

Tip. To enter a fraction in a cell formatted as General, preface the fraction with a zero and a space. For instance, to enter 4/8 in a cell, you type 0 4/8. If you type 4/8, Excel will assume you are entering a date, and change the cell format accordingly.

Create a custom Scientific Notation format

To display numbers in Scientific Notation format (Exponential format), include the capital letter E in your number format code. For example:

• 00E+00 — displays 1,500,500 as 1.50E+06.
• #0.0E+0 — displays 1,500,500 as 1.5E+6
• #E+# — displays 1,500,500 as 2E+6

Show negative numbers in parentheses

At the beginning of this tutorial, we discussed the 4 code sections that make up an Excel number format: Positive; Negative; Zero; Text

Most of the format codes we’ve discussed so far contained just 1 section, meaning that the custom format is applied to all number types — positive, negative and zeros.

To make a custom format for negative numbers, you’d need to include at least 2 code sections: the first will be used for positive numbers and zeros, and the second — for negative numbers.

To show negative values in parentheses, simply include them in the second section of your format code, for example: #.00; (#.00)

Tip. To line up positive and negative numbers at the decimal point, add an indent to the positive values section, e.g. 0.00_); (0.00)

Display zeroes as dashes or blanks

The built-in Excel Accounting format shows zeros as dashes. This can also be done in your custom Excel number format.

As you remember, the zero layout is determined by the 3 rd section of the format code. So, to force zeros to appear as dashes, type «-« in that section. For example: 0.00;(0.00);»-«

The above format code instructs Excel to display 2 decimal places for positive and negative numbers, enclose negative numbers in parentheses, and turn zeros into dashes.

If you don’t want any special formatting for positive and negative numbers, type General in the 1 st and 2 nd sections: General; -General; «-«

To turn zeroes into blanks, skip the third section in the format code, and only type the ending semicolon: General; -General; ; General

Add indents with custom Excel format

If you don’t want the cell contents to ride up right against the cell border, you can indent information within a cell. To add an indent, use the underscore (_) to create a space equal to the width of the character that follows it.

The commonly used indent codes are as follows:

• To indent from the left border: _(
• To indent from the right border: _)

Most often, the right indent is included in a positive number format, so that Excel leaves space for the parentheses enclosing negative numbers.

For example, to indent positive numbers and zeros from the right and text from the left, you can use the following format code:

Or, you can add indents on both sides of the cell:

The indent codes move the cell data by one character width. To move values from the cell edges by more than one character width, include 2 or more consecutive indent codes in your number format. The following screenshot demonstrates indenting cell contents by 1 and 2 characters:

Change font color with custom number format

Changing the font color for a certain value type is one of the simplest things you can do with a custom number format in Excel, which supports 8 main colors. To specify the color, just type one of the following color names in an appropriate section of your number format code.

[Black] [Green] [White] [Blue]

[Magenta] [Yellow] [Cyan] [Red]

Note. The color code must be the first item in the section.

For example, to leave the default General format for all value types, and change only the font color, use the format code similar to this:

Or, combine color codes with the desired number formatting, e.g. display the currency symbol, 2 decimal places, a thousands separator, and show zeros as dashes:

[Blue]$#,##0.00; [Red]-$#,##0.00; [Black]»-«; [Magenta]@

Repeat characters with custom format codes

To repeat a specific character in your custom Excel format so that it fills the column width, type an asterisk (*) before the character.

For example, to include enough equality signs after a number to fill the cell, use this number format: #*=

Or, you can include leading zeros by adding *0 before any number format, e.g. *0#

This formatting technique is commonly used to change cell alignment as demonstrated in the next formatting tip.

How to change alignment in Excel with custom number format

A usual way to change alignment in Excel is using the Alignment tab on the ribbon. However, you can «hardcode» cell alignment in a custom number format if needed.

For example, to align numbers left in a cell, type an asterisk and a space after the number code, for example: «#,###* » (double quotes are used only to show that an asterisk is followed by a space, you don’t need them in a real format code).

Making a step further, you could have numbers aligned left and text entries aligned right using this custom format:

#,###* ; -#,###* ; 0* ;* @

This method is used in the built-in Excel Accounting format . If you apply the Accounting format to some cell, then open the Format Cells dialog, switch to the Custom category and look at the Type box, you will see this format code:

The asterisk that follows the currency sign tells Excel to repeat the subsequent space character until the width of a cell is filled. This is why the Accounting number format aligns the currency symbol to the left, number to the right, and adds as many spaces as necessary in between.

Apply custom number formats based on conditions

To have your custom Excel format applied only if a number meets a certain condition, type the condition consisting of a comparison operator and a value, and enclose it in square brackets [].

For example, to displays numbers that are less than 10 in a red font color, and numbers that are greater than or equal to 10 in a green color, use this format code:

Additionally, you can specify the desired number format, e.g. show 2 decimal places:

[Red][ =10]0.00

And here is another extremely useful, though rarely used formatting tip. If a cell displays both numbers and text, you can make a conditional format to show a noun in a singular or plural form depending on the number. For example:

The above format code works as follows:

• If a cell value is equal to 1, it will display as «1 mile«.
• If a cell value is greater than 1, the plural form «miles» will show up. Say, the number 3.5 will display as «3.5 miles«.

Taking the example further, you can display fractions instead of decimals:

In this case, the value 3.5 will appear as «3 1/2 miles«.

Tip. To apply more sophisticated conditions, use Excel’s Conditional Formatting feature, which is specially designed to handle the task.

Dates and times formats in Excel

Excel date and times formats are a very specific case, and they have their own format codes. For the detailed information and examples, please check out the following tutorials:

Well, this is how you can change number format in Excel and create your own formatting. Finally, here’s a couple of tips to quickly apply your custom formats to other cells and workbooks:

• A custom Excel format is stored in the workbook in which it is created and is not available in any other workbook. To use a custom format in a new workbook, you can save the current file as a template, and then use it as the basis for a new workbook.
• To apply a custom format to other cells in a click, save it as an Excel style — just select any cell with the required format, go to the Home tab >Styles group, and click New Cell Style….

To explore the formatting tips further, you can download a copy of the Excel Custom Number Format workbook we used in this tutorial. I thank you for reading and hope to see you again next week!

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Introduction

Number formats control how numbers are displayed in Excel. The key benefit of number formats is that they change how a number looks without changing any data. They are a great way to save time in Excel because they perform a huge amount of formatting automatically. As a bonus, they make worksheets look more consistent and professional.

Video: What is a number format

What can you do with custom number formats?

Custom number formats can control the display of numbers, dates, times, fractions, percentages, and other numeric values. Using custom formats, you can do things like format dates to show month names only, format large numbers in millions or thousands, and display negative numbers in red.

Where can you use custom number formats?

Many areas in Excel support number formats. You can use them in tables, charts, pivot tables, formulas, and directly on the worksheet.

• Worksheet — format cells dialog
• Pivot Tables — via value field settings
• Charts — data labels and axis options
• Formulas — via the TEXT function

What is a number format?

A number format is a special code to control how a value is displayed in Excel. For example, the table below shows 7 different number formats applied to the same date, January 1, 2019:

Input	Code	Result
1-Jan-2019	yyyy	2019
1-Jan-2019	yy	19
1-Jan-2019	mmm	Jan
1-Jan-2019	mmmm	January
1-Jan-2019	d	1
1-Jan-2019	ddd	Tue
1-Jan-2019	dddd	Tuesday

The key thing to understand is that number formats change the way numeric values are displayed, but they do not change the actual values.

Where can you find number formats?

On the home tab of the ribbon, you’ll find a menu of build-in number formats. Below this menu to the right, there is a small button to access all number formats, including custom formats:

This button opens the Format Cells dialog box. You’ll find a complete list of number formats, organized by category, on the Number tab:

Note: you can open Format Cells dialog box with the keyboard shortcut Control + 1.

General is default

By default, cells start with the General format applied. The display of numbers using the General number format is somewhat «fluid». Excel will display as many decimal places as space allows, and will round decimals and use scientific number format when space is limited. The screen below shows the same values in column B and D, but D is narrower and Excel makes adjustments on the fly.

How to change number formats

You can select standard number formats (General, Number, Currency, Accounting, Short Date, Long Date, Time, Percentage, Fraction, Scientific, Text) on the home tab of the ribbon using the Number Format menu.

Note: As you enter data, Excel will sometimes change number formats automatically. For example if you enter a valid date, Excel will change to «Date» format. If you enter a percentage like 5%, Excel will change to Percentage, and so on.

Shortcuts for number formats

Excel provides a number of keyboard shortcuts for some common formats:

Format	Shortcut
General format	Ctrl Shift ~
Currency format	Ctrl Shift $
Percentage format	Ctrl Shift %
Scientific format	Ctrl Shift ^
Date format	Ctrl Shift #
Time format	Ctrl Shift @
Custom formats	Control + 1

See also: 222 Excel Shortcuts for Windows and Mac

Where to enter custom formats

At the bottom of the predefined formats, you’ll see a category called custom. The Custom category shows a list of codes you can use for custom number formats, along with an input area to enter codes manually in various combinations.

When you select a code from the list, you’ll see it appear in the Type input box. Here you can modify existing custom code, or to enter your own codes from scratch. Excel will show a small preview of the code applied to the first selected value above the input area.

Note: Custom number formats live in a workbook, not in Excel generally. If you copy a value formatted with a custom format from one workbook to another, the custom number format will be transferred into the workbook along with the value.

How to create a custom number format

To create custom number format follow this simple 4-step process:

1. Select cell(s) with values you want to format
2. Control + 1 > Numbers > Custom
3. Enter codes and watch preview area to see result
4. Press OK to save and apply 

Tip: if you want base your custom format on an existing format, first apply the base format, then click the «Custom» category and edit codes as you like.

How to edit a custom number format

You can’t really edit a custom number format per se. When you change an existing custom number format, a new format is created and will appear in the list in the Custom category. You can use the Delete button to delete custom formats you no longer need.

Warning: there is no «undo» after deleting a custom number format!

Structure and Reference

Excel custom number formats have a specific structure. Each number format can have up to four sections, separated with semi-colons as follows:

This structure can make custom number formats look overwhelmingly complex. To read a custom number format, learn to spot the semi-colons and mentally parse the code into these sections:

1. Positive values
2. Negative values
3. Zero values
4. Text values

Not all sections required

Although a number format can include up to four sections, only one section is required. By default, the first section applies to positive numbers, the second section applies to negative numbers, the third section applies to zero values, and the fourth section applies to text.

• When only one format is provided, Excel will use that format for all values.
• If you provide a number format with just two sections, the first section is used for positive numbers and zeros, and the second section is used for negative numbers.
• To skip a section, include a semi-colon in the proper location, but don’t specify a format code.

Characters that display natively

Some characters appear normally in a number format, while others require special handling. The following characters can be used without any special handling:

Character	Comment
$	Dollar
+-	Plus, minus
()	Parentheses
{}	Curly braces
<>	Less than, greater than
=	Equal
:	Colon
^	Caret
‘	Apostrophe
/	Forward slash
!	Exclamation point
&	Ampersand
~	Tilde
	Space character

Escaping characters

Some characters won’t work correctly in a custom number format without being escaped. For example, the asterisk (*), hash (#), and percent (%) characters can’t be used directly in a custom number format – they won’t appear in the result. The escape character in custom number formats is the backslash (). By placing the backslash before the character, you can use them in custom number formats:

Value	Code	Result
100	#0	#100
100	*0	*100
100	%0	%100

Placeholders

Certain characters have special meaning in custom number format codes. The following characters are key building blocks:

Character	Purpose
0	Display insignificant zeros
#	Display significant digits
?	Display aligned decimals
.	Decimal point
,	Thousands separator
*	Repeat following character
_	Add space
@	Placeholder for text

Zero (0) is used to force the display of insignificant zeros when a number has fewer digits than zeros in the format. For example, the custom format 0.00 will display zero as 0.00, 1.1 as 1.10 and .5 as 0.50.

Pound sign (#) is a placeholder for optional digits. When a number has fewer digits than # symbols in the format, nothing will be displayed. For example, the custom format #.## will display 1.15 as 1.15 and 1.1 as 1.1.

Question mark (?) is used to align digits. When a question mark occupies a place not needed in a number, a space will be added to maintain visual alignment. 

Period (.) is a placeholder for the decimal point in a number. When a period is used in a custom number format, it will always be displayed, regardless of whether the number contains decimal values.

Comma (,) is a placeholder for the thousands separators in the number being displayed.  It can be used to define the behavior of digits in relation to the thousands or millions digits.

Asterisk (*) is used to repeat characters. The character immediately following an asterisk will be repeated to fill remaining space in a cell.

Underscore (_) is used to add space in a number format. The character immediately following an underscore character controls how much space to add. A common use of the underscore character is to add space to align positive and negative values when a number format is adding parentheses to negative numbers only. For example, the number format «0_);(0)» is adding a bit of space to the right of positive numbers so that they stay aligned with negative numbers, which are enclosed in parentheses.

At (@) — placeholder for text. For example, the following number format will display text values in blue:

0;0;0;[Blue]@

See below for more information about using color.

Automatic rounding

It’s important to understand that Excel will perform «visual rounding» with all custom number formats. When a number has more digits than placeholders on the right side of the decimal point, the number is rounded to the number of placeholders. When a number has more digits than placeholders on the left side of the decimal point, extra digits are displayed. This is a visual effect only; actual values are not modified.

Number formats for TEXT

To display both text along with numbers, enclose the text in double quotes («»).  You can use this  approach to append or prepend text strings in a custom number format, as shown in the table below.

Value	Code	Result
10	General» units»	10 units
10	0.0″ units»	10.0 units
5.5	0.0″ feet»	5.5 feet
30000	0″ feet»	30000 feet
95.2	«Score: «0.0	Score: 95.2
1-Jun	«Date: «mmmm d	Date: June 1

Number formats for DATES

Dates in Excel are just numbers, so you can use custom number formats to change the way they display. Excel has many specific codes you can use to display components of a date in different ways. The screen below shows how Excel displays the date in D5, September 3, 2018, with a variety of custom number formats:

Number formats for TIME

Times in Excel are fractional parts of a day. For example, 12:00 PM is 0.5, and 6:00 PM is 0.75. You can use the following codes in custom time formats to display components of a time in different ways. The screen below shows how Excel displays the time in D5, 9:35:07 AM, with a variety of custom number formats:

Note: m and mm can’t be used alone in a custom number format since they conflict with the month number code in date format codes.

Number formats for ELAPSED TIME

Elapsed time is a special case and needs special handling. By using square brackets, Excel provides a special way to display elapsed hours, minutes, and seconds. The following screen shows how Excel displays elapsed time based on the value in D5, which represents 1.25 days:

Number formats for COLORS

Excel provides basic support for colors in custom number formats. The following 8 colors can be specified by name in a number format: [black] [white] [red][green] [blue] [yellow] [magenta] [cyan]. Color names must appear in brackets.

Colors by index

In addition to color names, it’s also possible to specify colors by an index number (Color1,Color2,Color3, etc.) The examples below are using the custom number format: [ColorX]0″▲▼», where X is a number between 1-56:

[Color1]0"▲▼" // black
[Color2]0"▲▼" // white
[Color3]0"▲▼" // red
[Color4]0"▲▼" // green
etc.

The triangle symbols have been added only to make the colors easier to see. The first image shows all 56 colors on a standard white background. The second image shows the same colors on a gray background. Note the first 8 colors shown correspond to the named color list above.

Apply number formats in a formula

Although most number formats are applied directly to cells in a worksheet, you can also apply number formats inside a formula with the TEXT function. For example, with a valid date in A1, the following formula will display the month name only:

=TEXT(A1,"mmmm")

The result of the TEXT function is always text, so you are free to concatenate the result of TEXT to other strings:

="The contract expires in "&TEXT(A1,"mmmm")

The screen below shows the number formats in column C being applied to numbers in column B using the TEXT function:

One quirk of the TEXT function relates to double quotes («») that are part of certain custom number formats. Because the format_text is entered as a text string, Excel won’t allow you to enter the formula without removing the quotes or adding more quotes. For example, to display a large number in thousands, you can use a custom number format like this:

0, "k"

Notice k appears in quotes («k»). To apply the same format with the TEXT function, you can use simply:

=TEXT(A1,"0, k")

Notice the k is not surrounded by quotes. Alternately, you can add extra double quotes as below, which returns the same result:

=TEXT(A1,"0,""K""")

This behavior only occurs when you are hardcoding a format inside TEXT. If you are applying a format entered elsewhere on the worksheet (as in cells C6 and C9 in the worksheet above) you can use a standard number format.

Measurements

You can use a custom number format to display numbers with an inches mark («) or a feet mark (‘). In the screen below, the number formats used for inches and feet are:

0.00 ' // feet
0.00 " // inches

These results are simplistic, and can’t be combined in a single number format. You can however use a formula to display feet together with inches.

Conditionals

Custom number formats also up to two conditions, which are written in square brackets like [>100] or [<=100]. When you use conditionals in custom number formats, you override the standard [positive];[negative];[zero];[text] structure. For example, to display values below 100 in red, you can use:

[Red][<100]0;0

To display values greater than or equal to 100 in blue, you can extend the format like this:

[Red][<100]0;[Blue][>=100]0

To apply more than two conditions, or to change other cell attributes, like fill color, etc. you’ll need to switch to Conditional Formatting, which can apply formatting with much more power and flexibility using formulas.

Plural text labels

You can use conditionals to add an «s» to labels greater than zero with a custom format like this:

[=1]0″ day»;0″ days»

Telephone numbers

Custom number formats can also be used for telephone numbers, as shown in the screen below:

Notice the third and fourth examples use a conditional format to check for numbers that contain an area code. If you have data that contains phone numbers with hard-coded punctuation (parentheses, hyphens, etc.) you will need to clean the telephone numbers first so that they only contain numbers.

Hide all content

You can actually use a custom number format to hide all content in a cell. The code is simply three semi-colons and nothing else ;;;

To reveal the content again, you can use the keyboard shortcut Control + Shift + ~, which applies the General format.

Other resources

• Developer Bryan Braun built a nice interactive tool for building custom number formats