How to write numbers in excel

Number Formatting in Excel: Step-by-Step Tutorial (2023)

Number Formatting in Excel: Step-by-Step Tutorial (2023)

We all know how to apply the basic numeric and text formats to cells in Excel.

But do you know how you can add a desired number of decimals, scientific notations, currency symbols, and similar formats in Excel with only a click?

No? This article is for you. It delves into the details of number formatting in Excel. 🤩

Keep reading till the end, and download our free sample workbook here before you scroll down.

What are number formats?

Type something into a cell. What is its format?

By default, all cells of Excel will have the General format applied.

However, type in a big number that exceeds the size of the cell, and Excel would give you back something like 1.2E+12.

What is this? A scientific notation. Under General format, Excel replaces a number too big to fit the cell with its scientific notation.

To turn it into a number, change the format to ‘Numbers’ and adjust the cell size.

Check the formula bar to note how the number remains the same under both formats i.e. 1200000000000.

What changes is only the visual representation of the said number in Excel (decimal places added).

Kasper Langmann, Microsoft Office Specialist

That is how formats work in Excel.

And you can change the format of a number with a mere click. Excel offers many number formats with useful variations to them.

Thousands separator

In the image below we have different numbers.

By now, it only seems like a number that is hard to read. Maybe that’s because it doesn’t yet have 1000s separators (any commas) to it.

1. Select the cell.
2. Go to Home > Number

1. From the menu, go to More Number Formats

This launches the Format Cells dialog box.

You may use the keyboard shortcut (Control Key + 1) to launch the Format Cells dialog box.

Kasper Langmann, Microsoft Office Specialist

1. Go to Number Format.
2. Check the ‘Use 1000 Separator’ box.

1. Here are the results.

A shortcut to add the 1000s separator: Go to Home > Number > click on the comma symbol

However, this changes the number format to the Accounting format.

Controlling decimals

In the same example, as above, there are two decimals to the number.

But you want four decimal places to this number. How can this be done?

1. Select the cell.
2. Go to Home > Number > More Number Formats

1. From the Format Cells dialog box, go to Number Format.
2. Adjust the decimal places to four.

1. Here are the results.

A shortcut to adjust decimal places. Go to Home > Number > Add decimals button

With every click, Excel adds another decimal position to the number.

The button with a right-headed arrow reduces a decimal position.

The button with a left-headed arrow adds a decimal position.

Kasper Langmann, Microsoft Office Specialist

Show as percentage

Here is a decimal number that we want to be converted into a percentage.

To do this:

1. Select the cell.
2. Go to Home > Number > More Number Formats

1. From the Format Cells dialog box, go to Number Format.
2. Click on Percentage.

1. Adjust the decimal places as desired.

1. Here are the results.

A shortcut to convert a number into a percentage. Go to Home > Number > Click the % symbol

Number formatting presets

Excel offers a wide variety of number formatting presets. (You must’ve had a slight idea of that by now.)

These range from currency to accounting to dates and whatnot.

Let’s look into each of these formats below.

General number format preset

The general number format of Excel is the default format of any value in Excel.

All values in all cells of Excel will have the general number format by default.

1. To apply the general format to any cell in Excel, select that cell.
2. Press the Control key + 1 to launch the Format cells dialog box. That’s a handy shortcut 😊.
3. Choose the ‘General number’ format.

1. Values formatted as general numbers are displayed just the way they are.

Pro Tip!

Under the General number format, if the cell is not wide enough to contain a number, Excel would:

1. Round a number with decimals to lesser decimal places; or
2. Use scientific notation to express the number; or
3. If the cell is too small to fit in the scientific notation for the number even, display a series of hashes only.

Number format preset

The Excel number format is used for simple numeric values

To apply the number format to any cell:

1. Select the cell.
2. Go to Home > Numbers > Drop Down Menu and click on Number Format.

The number format allows users three further variations to the final value:

1. The decimal places. You can adjust decimal places to any desired number.

1. The 1000 Separator. Check the box if you need 1000s separators to the value.

1. The format of negative numbers. This could be in two colors (black or red) and enclosed within brackets or with a minus sign.

The Sample box gives a preview of what the final value may look like.

Must Note:

Under the Numbers format, if you type a number in a cell that is too big to fit in the cell, Excel might return a series of hashes only.

In such a case, one must know that the problem simply lies within the size of the cell. (that is too small to fit in the cell value).

To work this out, increase the width of the column until it is wide enough to fit in the cell value.

Currency format preset

The Currency format is used to denote currencies.

To format a number as currency:

1. Go to Home > Numbers > Drop Down Menu > Click on Currency.

It allows you to adjust three options to your desire:

1. The decimal places.

1. The currency symbol.

1. The format of negative numbers. This could be in two colors (black or red) and enclosed within brackets or with a minus sign.

Here is what a currency formatted number looks like.

Date format presets

There are two date formats offered by Excel – short date and long date.

To format a number as a date, go to Format Cells and choose the date format you’d want to be applied.

Excel offers a wide variety of formats for dates and days.

Here is how the date format works.

Pro Tip!

Type any number into Excel and apply the date formatting to it. Excel turns it into a date.

This is because Excel recognizes each date as a number. Where 1 is equal to 01 Jan 1900, 2 is equal to 02 Jan 1900, and so on.

Accounting format preset

Next is the accounting format preset.

This format is relevant when you’re working with financial data. For example, while preparing financial statements, forecasts, or similar reports.

To apply accounting format to a number:

1. Go to Home > Numbers > Drop Down Menu > Click on Accounting Format.

It allows you to adjust two features to your desire:

1. The decimal places.

1. The currency symbol.

Here is what an accounting formatted number looks like.

Under the accounting format, 1000s separators and currency symbols are added by default. And negative numbers are enclosed in parenthesis i.e. $ (1925.60) etc.

Kasper Langmann, Microsoft Office Specialist

Time format preset

Excel also offers a wide variety of ways how you may represent times in Excel.

To apply the time format, go to Format Cells and choose the time format you’d want to apply.

You can format it to be displayed as HH:MM:SS or any other way you like.

Here is how the time format looks in action.

Formatting shortcuts

There are plenty of shortcuts on how you may quickly format cell values in Excel.

You can format numbers by using these keyboard shortcuts. Simply select the cell (or cells) where you want the formatting applied and use the shortcuts below.

• Control Key + Shift Key + ~ : Applies the General format
• Control Key + Shift Key + ! : Applies the Number format
• Control Key + Shift Key + $ : Applies the Currency format
• Control Key + Shift Key + % : Applies the Percentage format
• Control Key + Shift Key + ^ : Applies the Scientific notation format
• Control Key + Shift Key + # : Applies the Date format
• Control Key + Shift Key + @ : Applies the Time format

All of these are shortcut keys and only apply the default formats (like the default two decimal places or HH:MM:SS AM/PM format etc.)

Kasper Langmann, Microsoft Office Specialist

Custom formatting

Tired already? However, the number formats list has yet not come to an end.

The last and the most important number format of Excel is the Custom Format.

Under this format, you can customize a number format as needed.

1. Go to Home > Numbers > Drop Down Menu > More Number Formats.
2. Click on Custom Format.

1. Under the custom formatting, you see different formats.

1. To create a custom number format, choose the format that closely matches what you are looking for.
2. Customize it as needed (keep an eye on the sample to see if you’ve reached your desired format).
3. And save your custom number format.

That’s it – Now what?

Like all the amazing tools offered by Microsoft Excel, number formats are a whole toolkit in itself.

There’s so much to explore, and this article only gives you an idea of how you can come up with different visual representations of the same value.

Not only that, but if you fail to find the format you’re looking for – you can customize one for yourself. That’s where the possibilities become limitless.

Want to learn further? Learn the core functions of Excel including the VLOOKUP, SUMIF, and IF functions.

You need not go any further to master these functions. Click here to sign up for my free 30-minute email course that will take you through these and many more functions in no time.

Kasper Langmann2023-01-19T12:13:39+00:00

Excel has a lot of built-in number formats, but sometimes you need something specific. Whether you’re representing a little-used currency, tracking in-stock units, or want to color code profits and losses, you are in need of a an Excel custom number format. Number formatting in Excel is pretty powerful but that means it is also somewhat complex. This is the definitive guide to Excel’s custom number formats…

By default, each cell is formatted as “General”, which means it does not have any special formatting rules. When you enter data in a cell, Excel tries to guess what format it should have. When it doesn’t guess correctly, you need to change the format. Excel has a few pre-set formatting options attached to buttons in the Home menu, but if those don’t meet your needs, you need to use the full options available in the Format Cells menu.

To access this menu, look for the Number section of the Home menu tab. Click the arrow in the lower right corner of the Number section.

It will bring up the Format Cells menu in the Numbers tab:

Underneath the pre-defined number formats for common items like currency and percentage, there is a category called Custom. The format types in this section are different from the pre-set options. They are filled with symbols and codes:

A number format code is entered into the Type field in the Custom category. These codes are the key to creating any custom number format in Excel. First, however, we need to understand how they work…

Understanding the Number Format Codes

Number format codes are the string of symbols that define how Excel displays the data you store in cells. We will get into the ways to describe the formats in a minute, but first we need to go over how Excel interprets those symbols. Each number format code is made up of as many as 4 sections separated by a semi-colon (;).

These sections control formatting for one or more parts of the number line, including positive numbers, negative numbers, and zeros. They can also control formatting for sub-sets of these parts, like all numbers greater than 100 and text-based data. What each section controls depends on how many sections there are in the number format code. A full number format code will be entered as follows:

Section1;Section2;Section3;Section4

The behavior of different parts of the number line will be as follows:

As indicated above, when there is just one section provided, it describes the format for all numbers. With two, the first section describes the format of positive, zero, and text values, while the second section describes the format of negative values, etc.

You can choose to skip formatting for any of the middle sections by entering General instead of other format data. For example, if you only want to affect positive numbers and text, you can enter a number format code with this arrangement:

Section1;General;General;Section4

General strips all formatting from the data entered, so be careful how you use it. Negative numbers with the General format code will not display the minus sign in front of their number.

Important note: Using a single section number format code does not always have the same result as expanding the same rules to all sections. For example:

Section1

Is not the same as:

Section1;Section1;Section1;Section1

Look at the examples below to see examples of the difference…

Now that we understand what a number format code is, what can we do with it?

Changing Font Color with Number Format Codes

One of the simplest things you can do with number format codes is change the color of the font in the affected cells. The syntax for doing so is simple:

[Color Name]

Just choose the section that corresponds to the part of the number line you want to change color, and provide the color in brackets. The color options are as follows (the background is gray for contrast in the table, but backgrounds are not affected by the number format code):

As an example, we can provide a separate color code for each part of a number format code:

[Red]General;[Blue]General;[Magenta]General;[Cyan]General

The General message just tells Excel to represent the numbers as entered by the user. The output of this number format code looks like this:

Note that the negative number in row 3 does not automatically get a negative sign (-) in front of it. We are overriding the default format of negative numbers in the cell. Also notice that the color format is not affecting anything about the presentation; the number of decimal places stays the same, as does the alignment of the data to the left or right of the cells.

Adding Text with Number Format Codes

You can add text around numbers with number format codes by inserting the text in a section one of two ways:

Single Characters

For single characters (like an @ symbol before a number), type a backslash () followed by the symbol. The number format code:

@General

Results in the following output:

Note that the minus sign still precedes the negative number. Also note that the Text value is not affected by the @ symbol addition.

Importantly, this is different from the result if we expanded our format guideline to each section of the number format code:

@General;@General;@General;@General

Results in the following output:

Note that the minus sign is gone from the negative number and the Text value now receives the @ symbol.

Text Strings

To add an entire text string to a number (like adding “units” to the end of a number), we surround the text string in quotation marks (” “). The number format code:

General" units"

Results in the following output:

Once again, this is different from:

General" units";General" units";General" units";General" units"

Which results in:

Special Characters

In addition to these two methods, there is a set of special symbol characters that do not need a leading backslash or quotes to be included in the number format code. The list is as follows:

Excel will also accept most other non-mathematical symbols, such a non-dollar currency symbols, copyright/trademark symbols, and Greek letters. These symbols are not available on most standard keyboards, but they can be entered by holding down the ALT key while typing in a four-digit number. Some of the most useful ones are below:

A full list of ANSI character codes can be found on Wikipedia here.

Changing Decimal Places, Significant Digits, and Commas

Adding symbols and colors is useful, but most of the work you’ll likely need to do with custom number formats is change the way Excel displays the numbers it stores. Number format codes use a set of symbols to represent how the data should appear in the cell. Here is a summary of the symbols:

Let’s review them each in turn…

Zero (0)

Zeros in the number format code represent a forced digit. That means that whether or not the digit is relevant to the value, it will be shown. A great example of this is the standard dollars and cents notation that is used to represent prices in the United States: $0.00. Even if there are no extra cents in the amount, the two zeroes are still shown in the notation.

Here is an example of the zero code in action. The following examples are using this number format code:

0.00

Question Mark (?)

Question marks in the number format code represent an alignment digit. This means that when the number being shown doesn’t need the digit in question, a blank space of the same size is used. This is used to align decimal and comma places for more easy ranking of values, etc.

Here is an example of the question mark code in action. The following examples are using this number format code:

0.??

Pound Sign (#)

Sometimes called a hash mark, the pound sign in the number format code represents an optional digit. This means that when the number being shown doesn’t need the digit in question, it will be omitted from the displayed number. This is most often used to represent numbers in their most easily readable form.

Here is an example of the pound sign code in action. The following examples are using this number format code:

#.##

Period (.)

The period in the number format code represents the location of the decimal point in the number being displayed. When paired with the comma code, it can show numbers in thousands or millions, changing 1,200 to 1.2, for example. It is similar to the text format codes above in that it is always displayed when it is part of the number code, even when number being displayed does not straddle the decimal point. See the comma, pound sign and question mark examples above for useful illustrations of the period in use.

Comma (,)

The comma in the number format code represents the thousands separators in the number being displayed. It allows you to describe the behavior of digits in relation to the thousands or millions digits.

Here is an example of the comma code in action. The following examples are using this number format code:

$??,???.00

Asterisk (*)

The asterisk in the number format code represents the repeating character modifier. It is used along with a character to display a repeating digit that fills the empty space in a cell.

Here is an example of the asterisk code in action. The following examples are using this number format code:

*=0.##

Underscore (_)

The underscore in the number code represents the space character modifier. It is used along with a character to display a blank space equal in size to the specified character. It can be used, for example, to properly align positive and negative numbers when parentheses are used in only the negative case.

Here is an example of the underscore code in action. The following examples are using this number format code:

_(#.##_);(#.##)

Using Fractions, Percentages, and Scientific Notation

Certain types of notation require that symbols be used to indicate the format change, including fractions, percentages, and scientific notation. Here is a summary of the symbols for each:

We’ll examine each in detail…

Fractions (/)

Fractions are special, since they require a change in units. The number 0.23 is represented as 23/100, but 0.25 can be simplified t0 1/4 or shown as 25/100. Similarly, 1.25 can be shown as 1 1/4 or the improper fraction 5/4. Which way Excel displays the number depends on how you construct the number format code.

Fractions effectively round values to the nearest possible fraction. They also take the guidelines of the pound sign and question mark symbols they are paired with.

Integer with Reduced Fractions

A fairly typical representation for fractions is to keep the whole numbers independent from the fraction remainder. The representation for this is relatively straightforward and can be done with pound signs and question marks to slightly different effect…

Using question mark (?) notation, the following number format code:

# ???/???

Produces a fraction remainder with up to three digits:

The alignment of the fraction bar is preserved regardless of the number of digits in use. If we limit the number of digits on each side of the fraction to 2, Excel will round the number to the nearest fraction value. The following number code format:

# ??/??

Changes the representation of 0.23 from 23/100 to 3/13.

If you don’t wish to preserve the alignment around the fraction bar, you can use a similar fraction number format code that uses pound signs.

Using pound sign notation, the following number format code:

# ###/###

Produces a more readable fraction remainder that can be justified or centered in the cell:

Improper Fractions

If you’d rather bundle the whole number portion of a value into the fraction itself, you can specify as much in the number format code.

Using pound sign notation, the following number format code:

###/###

Produces an improper fraction with up to three digits:

Fixed Base Fractions

It is also possible to force Excel to round fractions to a specific denominator by specifying it in the number format code.

Here is an example of a fixed base code in action. The following examples are using this number format code:

# ##/15

The result is a rounded fraction remainder that goes to the nearest number of 15ths.

Percentages (%)

Much like fractions, percentages are controlled by the number format codes that accompany them. A basic percentage can be achieved with a pound sign symbol in the number format code:

#%

Results in the following output:

You can also specify fractional percentages, as shown with this number format code:

# #/#%

Results in single-digit fractions in the percentages where needed:

Finally, as always, you can specify the number of significant digits with decimal places:

#.0%

Results in a 10th place aligned decimal:

Scientific Notation (E)

It’s difficult to read extremely small and extremely large numbers conventionally because of all the leading and trailing zeroes. Scientific notation fixes that by moving the decimal to the relevant digits, so 0.0000001 can become 1 x 10^-7. Excel uses the E notation for this, so that same number would be 1E-07. So, as you’d expect, the capital letter E signals scientific notation in number format code.

Otherwise, scientific notation in Excel is controlled by the same number codes as percentages and fractions. It needs a number format code in front of the E to describe the relevant digits and a plus (+) and another number format code behind to describe the handling of the exponential digit.

Here is an example of a scientific notation code in action. The following examples are using this number format code:

#E+#

You can also achieve more consistent notation with zeros. The following examples are using this number format code:

0.00E+00

Note that in this case, the decimal and exponent are both constrained to 2 significant digits, regardless of whether they are necessary. The trade-off is, it keeps the output far more consistent, with a predictable string length.

Dates and Times

Dates and times in Excel are a special case. For a detailed discussion of how Excel uses them, please review the Definitive Guide to Using Dates and Times in Excel.  The number format codes work identically to the format_text input for the TEXT command, and they can be reviewed here.

Other posts in this series…

If you used Excel in any shape or form, there is a pretty good chance that you’ve used the formatting and number formatting features. Formatting options like number, currency, percentage, date and time values are easily accessible to users. However, that’s not all there is in the world of text and number formatting. Going down the rabbit hole, custom formatting can help you fully configure Excel’s built-in settings for formatting.

The main advantage of this approach is that you can alter the look of your data without changing the actual values. This means that you do not need to use additional spaces or formulas to create the layout you want and preserve the raw data.

If you want to modify your data anyways, or need to change a value inside a formula, you can use the TEXT function with all custom formatting syntax we are going to cover in this article. It should be noted that the TEXT function returns a text, and the return value cannot be used in mathematical calculations. If you do, you will receive a #VALUE! error. In this article we’re going to be using a workbook template. You can download it below.

How to create a custom number format in Excel

1. Select the cell to be formatted and press Ctrl+1 to open the Format Cells dialog. An alternative way to do is by right-clicking the cell and then going to Format Cells > Number Tab.
2. Under Category, select Custom.
3. Type in the format code into the Type
4. Click OK to save your changes.

Note: In Format Cells dialog you can modify the built-in format codes by selecting the format you want to modify in its own category (i.e. Currency > ($1,234.10)) and then selecting Custom Category. Don’t worry, Excel will not let you delete built-in formats.

Basics

Syntax

The format code has 4 sections separated by semicolons.

POSITIVE; NEGATIVE; ZERO; TEXT

These sections are optional,

• If a code contains only 1 section, the format is applied to all number types — positive, negative and zero.
• If a code contains 2 sections, the first section is used for positive and zero values, while the second section is applied to negative values.
• If a code contains 3 sections, the first is for positive, the second is for negative, and the third is for zero.
• A code only affects text values if all sections exist.

Default format type in Excel is called General. You can type General for sections you don’t want formatted. Make sure you use a minus sign (-) with General if you want to skip negative values.

If you want to completely hide a type, leave it blank after the semicolon. For example; to hide 0 values, General;-General;;General

Placeholders and the Cheat Sheet

Placeholder	Description	Raw Value	Format Code	Formatted Value
General	Default format	1234.567	General	1234.567
#	Placeholder for digits (numbers) and does not add any leading zeroes.	1234.567	#####.####	1234.567
0	Placeholder for digits (numbers) and add any leading zeroes.	1234.567	00000.0000	01234.5670
?	Placeholder for digits (numbers) and add space characters.	1234.567	?????.????	1234.567
.	Placeholder for the decimal place.	1234.567	0.00	1234.57
_	Adds a blank space, to the width of the following character. You can use in combination with parentheses to add left and right indents, _( and _) respectively.	99	_(#_);(#)	99
-25	(25)
58	58
12	12
-71	(71)
36	36
*	Repeats the character after asterisk until the width of the cell is filled.	66	0 *!	66 !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Full Name	@ *_	Full Name ____
%	Convert value to a percentage with % sign	0.12	%	12%
,	Thousands separator	1234.567	#,	1
12345678	#,	12,346
12345678	#,###,	12,346
12345678	#,,	12
E	Scientific notation format. Requires a ‘+’ symbol after, and a digit placeholder before and after.	1234.567	0.00E+00	1.23E+03
/	Represents fractions	1.234	# ##/##	1 11/47
1.234	# 000/000	1 117/500
1.234	##/##	58/47
«»	Text placeholder for multiple characters	1234.567	#,##0 «km/h»	1,235 km/h
Good	«Result is: «@	Result is: Good
	Text placeholder for single character	1234	#.00, K	1.23 K
1234567	#.00,, M	1.23 M
@	Placeholder for text	Bad	«Result is: «@	Result is: Bad
[color]	Change Color of value. Options: [Black], [Green], [White], [Blue], [Magenta], [Yellow], [Cyan], [Red]	1234.567	[Green]#,##0.00_); [Red](#,##0.00); [Blue]0.00_); [Magenta]@	1,234.57
-1234.567	(1,234.57)
0	0.00
This is a text	This is a text

Common Practices

Display and control of the first digit and decimals

Decimal places in the code are indicated with a period (.). Number of zeroes after the period (.) define the number of decimal places. For example,

• 0 — display 1 decimal place
• 00 — display 2 decimal places

If the number has more decimals than the decimal placeholders defined, the number will be rounded to the nearest number of placeholders.

Raw Value	Format Code	Formatted Value
123.4	0.0	123.4
123.4	0.00	123.40
123.45	0.00	123.45
123.45	0.00	123.46
123.456	0.0	123.5

Alternatively, hash (#) and question mark (?) symbols can be used as decimal places. However, because any missing decimal places will be filled with zeroes, using zeroes instead will be easier to read.

Raw Value	Format Code	Formatted Value
0.25	0.00	0.25
0.25	#.##	.25
123	0.00	123.0
123	#.??	123.00
123	#.##	123.

Add text to numbers

Custom text can be added to the beginning or the end of a value. Text and characters should be added inside quotes («») and backslashes (). You can use backslash () to add single character.

Raw Value	Format Code	Formatted Value
123.4	0.0 «ft.»	123.4 ft.
123.4	0.00 l	123.40 l
123.45	«Approx.» 0	Approx. 123
123.45	«Result:» 0.00 C	Result: 123.46 C
Bad	«Result is: «@	Result is: Bad

Quotation marks or backslashes are not necessary for spaces ( ) and some special characters.

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

Below are some special characters you can use by copying or typing in the numerical code while pressing down Alt button.

Symbol	Code	Description
™	Alt+0153	Trademark
©	Alt+0169	Copyright symbol
°	Alt+0176	Degree symbol
±	Alt+0177	Plus-Minus sign
µ	Alt+0181	Micro sign

Hide value

If you leave any number of sections blank, the value of those sections will be hidden. A section should always be separated (defined) by a semicolon (;). Here are some examples,

Raw Value	Format Code	Formatted Value
1	0;;0;	1
-2	0;;0;
0	0;;0;	0
Some text	0;;0;
1	;(0);;@
-2	;(0);;@	(2)
0	;(0);;@
Some text	;(0);;@	Some Text
1	;;;
-2	;;;
0	;;;
Some text	;;;

Replace zeroes with dashes

Zeroes can make data tables look more complicated than they actually are. You can hide them completely by using the previous method, or replace them with any character of your choice. Dash (-) is a common example. All you need to is place a dash into the ‘Zero section’.

Raw Value	Format Code	Formatted Value
0	General;-General;»-«;General	—
3487	General;-General;»-«;»-«	—
12	#,##0.00;(#,##0.00);»-«;	—

Start with zeroes

If try to enter a ZIP number that starts with 0, the leading zeroes will be removed automatically by Excel. To keep the leading zeros, use zero (0) placeholder for whole numbers.

Raw Value	Format Code	Formatted Value
10010	00000	10010
3487	00000	03487
12	00000	00012
0	00000	00000
123456	00000	123456

Dealing with thousands, millions, and more

You may have noticed that ‘0.0’ or other simple formats do not separate thousands or millions. Adding a comma into the code will insert commas to separate numbers.

Raw Value	Format Code	Formatted Value
1234	#,##0	1,234
123456	#,##0	123,456
12345678	#,##0	12,345,678
123456.789	#,##0	123,457
123456.789	#,##0.0	123,456.8

There must be placeholders for numbers smaller than one thousand, otherwise such values will be hidden. This behavior allows us to round and format our value to show only thousands or millions.

Raw Value	Format Code	Formatted Value
1234	#,	1
123456	#,	123
12345678	#,	12345
12345678	#,,	12
123456	#.0, K	123.5 K
12345678	#.0,, M	12.3 M

Display numbers as phone numbers

Phone numbers can be hard to read without any separators. Custom Number Format Codes is perfect for this job. The hash (#) character should be your best bet to avoid any redundancy of placeholders (0, ?)

Raw Value	Format Code	Formatted Value
1234567890	(###) ###-####	(123) 456-7890
12345678900	(###) #### ####	(123) 4567 8900
1234567890	(##) #### ####	(12) 3456 7890

Showing Month and Weekday Names

Date and time values are stored as numbers in Excel. When you enter a date, Excel automatically converts it into a numerical value, and then formats the cell.

Before jumping into the code, let’s review some basics. Formatting code has special placeholders for date and time formatting that behave a bit differently. For example, while m and mm will show month as a number, mmm and mmmm will show as a text string. Below are some examples.

Raw Value	Format Code	Formatted Value
4/1/2018	m	4
4/1/2018	mm	04
4/1/2018	mmm	Apr
4/1/2018	mmmm	April
4/1/2018	mmmmm	A
4/1/2018	d	1
4/1/2018	dd	01
4/1/2018	ddd	Sun
4/1/2018	dddd	Sunday
4/1/2018  11:59:31 PM	dddd, mmmm dd, yyyy h:mm AM/PM;@	Sunday, April 01, 2018 11:59 PM

Here is the full list of options for the date 4/1/2018 23:59:31 ,

Format Code	Description	Example (4/1/2018 23:59:31)
yyyy	Displays the year as a four-digit number.	2018
yy	Displays the year as a two-digit number.	18
m	Displays the month as a number without a leading zero.	4
mm	Displays the month with a leading zero.	04
mmm	Displays the month as text, as an abbreviation.	Apr
mmmm	Displays the month as text.	April
mmmmm	Displays the month as a single character	A
d	Displays the day as a number, without a leading zero.	1
dd	Displays the day as a number, with a leading zero.	01
ddd	Displays the day as a day of the week, as an abbreviation.	Sun
dddd	Displays the day as a day of the week, without abbreviation	Sunday
h	Displays the hour without a leading zero.	23
hh	Displays the hour with a leading zero.	23
[h]	Displays elapsed time in hours (to be used when the time value exceeds 24 hours).	1036607
m	Displays the minute without a leading zero.	4
mm	Displays the minute with a leading zero.	04
[m]	Displays elapsed time in minutes (to be used when the time value exceeds 60 minutes).	62196479
s	Displays the second without a leading zero.	31
ss	with a leading zero.	31
[s]	Displays elapsed time in seconds (to be used when the time value exceeds 60 seconds).	3731788771
AM/PM	Converts to 12-hour time. Displays either AM/am/A/a or PM/pm/P/p depending on the time of day.	PM
am/pm	pm
A/P	P
a/p	p

Come in Colors Everywhere

Number Formatting can be used color sections of a code. A common example is using the color red for negative numbers. Color code must be placed inside square brackets (i.e. [color]), and entered at the beginning of a section. Here are some available colors,

• [Black]
• [Blue]
• [Cyan]
• [Green]
• [Magenta]
• [Red]
• [White]
• [Yellow]

Raw Value	Format Code	Formatted Value
1234.567	[Green]#,##0.00_);[Red](#,##0.00);[Blue]0.00);[Magenta]@	1,234.57
-1234.567	(1,234.57)
0	0.00
This is a text	This is a text

Conditions

Although Excel has conditional formatting menu, basic conditions can be applied through code. Condition should be placed inside square brackets (i.e. [condition]) just like colors. Conditions are similar to the conditions in some functions (i.e. SUMIF). First add a logical operator, and then a value. For example, “[>=1000000]” means “if value of cell is greater than or equal to 1,000,000 apply the following format”. Conditions should come before the actual code, again, just like with colors. If you want to a color as well, the color code should come first.

Another important thing to note here is, that section structure changes from Positive, Negative, Zero, Text to First Condition, Second Condition (if exists), if previous conditions are not applied. There should be at least two sections for conditions.

If you enter only one condition code and then save the format, Excel will automatically add the second section with «;General». This means that if the condition is not met, General format will be used.

Raw Value	Format Code	Formatted Value
1234567890	[>=1000000]#,##0,,»M»;[>=1000]#,##0,»K»;0	1,235M
12345	12K
1	[=1]0″ apple»;0″ apples»	1 apple
10	10 apples
25	[Green][>=85]»PASSED»;[Blue][>=60]»RE-CHECK»;[Red]»FAILED»	FAILED
72	RE-CHECK
91	PASSED

Last Update: Jan 03, 2023

This is a question our experts keep getting from time to time. Now, we have got the complete detailed explanation and answer for everyone, who is interested!

Asked by: Jared Ortiz

Score: 4.4/5
(25 votes)

Use Fill Handle to Add Serial Numbers

How do you do a serially number in Excel?

Use the ROW function to number rows

How do I auto number a column in Excel?

Type 1 into a cell that you want to start the numbering, then drag the autofill handle at the right-down corner of the cell to the cells you want to number, and click the fill options to expand the option, and check Fill Series, then the cells are numbered. See screenshot.

How do you increment in Excel?

How do I write numbers in international format in Excel?

Display numbers as phone numbers

42 related questions found

In Excel, you aren’t limited to using built-in number formats. You can define your own custom number formats to display values as thousands or millions (23K or 95.3M), add leading zeros, display » — » for zero values, make negative values red, add bullets, and much more.

Watch the video we created to go along with this article!

How to Create a Custom Number Format

To create a custom number format, it is easiest to begin with a built-in format. Open the Format Cells dialog box by pressing Ctrl+1 (or right-click on a cell and select Format Cells) and select the Number tab (see the image below). Then (1) Choose Custom from the Category list, (2) Select a built-in format similar to what you want, and (3) Edit the format string in the Type field.

Number Format Codes

A number format string uses up to 4 different codes, separated by semicolons, as shown in the image below.

Instead of explaining the syntax in detail at this point, let’s take a look at some examples and learn as we go.

Some of the characters like #, 0, @, etc. have special meanings. Some codes like [Red] can change the font color, and quotes can be used to display text or special characters. The table below summarizes some of these special characters.

Special Characters in Number Formats

Character	Description
#	A digit placeholder
0	A digit that is to be displayed even if it is zero
,	(Comma) Interpreted as a 1000’s marker
@	Represents the value displayed as text
*	(Asterisk) Repeats the next character to fill the cell
[ColorCode]	See the section below about using color codes
[<=100]	Conditional operators (valid only in the Positive and Negative sections)
/	Used for fractions such as # #/12 or as the / character for dates
» «	(Quotes) Used to display whatever is contained within the quotes as text, such as 0.00 «feet»
d or dd ddd dddd	Day number (0-31 or 00-31) Abbreviated day of week (Mon, Tue, etc.) Full day of week (Monday, Tuesday, etc.)
m or mm mmm mmmm mmmmm	Month number (0-12 or 00-12) Abbreviated month name (Jan, Feb, etc.) Full month name (January, February, etc.) First letter of the month (J, F, M, etc.)
y or yy yyyy	Year (0-99 or 00-99) Full year (1900-9999)
h or hh m or mm s or ss	Hour (0-23 or 00-23) Minutes (0-59 or 00-59) Seconds (0-59 or 00-59)

NOTE Some characters are specific to locale/language settings. For example J is used for Year in some countries.

Custom Number Format Examples

The examples below show some of the custom number formats that I’ve found the most useful. This isn’t a comprehensive list of all possible number formats. See support.microsoft.com to search for other articles on this subject.

TIP Using a custom number format only affects the displayed value. A formula that references the cell will use the stored value no matter how it is displayed. This means you can still use a formula to refer to the value even though the number might be displayed as «12 ft.»

To see these examples in action, download the Excel file below.

Download the Example File (CustomNumberFormats.xlsx)

Custom Number Format for Thousands and Millions

Format Code	Value	Displayed As	Description
0,K 0.0,K 0.0, «Thousand»	23543	24K 23.5K 23.5 Thousand	Display values in thousands, using the letter K to indicate thousands. The «K» is just a displayed character — it has no special meaning in the number format string. If you want to display more than one letter, you need to enclose the characters in quotes, like the «Thousand» example.
0,,»M» 0.0,,»M» 0.0,, «Million»	23543000	24M 23.5M 23.5 Million	Display values in millons, using the letter M to indicate millions. Note that in this case, you need two commas.

NOTE These are very useful for chart axes and labels.

Display Leading Zeros and Include Commas

Format Code	Value	Displayed As	Description
000 00000	50.8	051 00051	Display values with leading zeros. This does not convert the value to text — it is only a display format.
#,##0.0	3543.46	3,543.5	Display values using commas to separate thousands, millions, etc. The # sign is used as a placeholder, meaning that if there are no 10’s, 100’s, or 1000’s, don’t display them.

Display Units Without Converting to Text

Format Code	Value	Displayed As
• Display a number and text in the same cell using the conditions [=1] and [>1]. The value is stored as a number, so you can still do calculations on the number of people.
[=1]# «person»;[>1]# «people»;0	1 5 0	1 person 5 people 0
• Display a number and text in the same cell. The value is stored as a number, so you can still do calculations.
0.0 «ft» 0.0 «kg» # #/## «in»	2.2 4.5 6.25	2.2 ft 4.5 kg 6 1/4 in
• Display a numeric YYMMDD value in years, months, days.
##»y» ##»m» ##»d»	360712	36y 07m 12d

Special Time Formats

There are quite a few built-in time formats to choose from. The following may be less known.

Format Code	Value	Displayed As	Description
[h]:mm:ss [h]:mm [mm]:ss [ss]	49:03:47	49:03:47 49:03 2943:47 176627	Shows elapsed time in hours, minutes or seconds. Note that time does not round up.
h:mm A/P h:mm a/p	2:25 PM	2:25 P 2:25 p	Displays time using «a» for AM and «p» for PM. Useful when trying to minimize column widths without making fonts smaller.

Including Special Symbols

Some ascii and unicode characters can be copied and pasted directly into the format code. This can be handy for displaying the degrees symbol for temperatures as well as other tricks like showing up and down arrows or bulleted lists.

Format Code	Value	Displayed As	Description
#.#»°»	98.7	98.7°	Display temperature in degrees with the ° symbol.
[Color10]▲0;[Red]▼-0	5 -5	▲5 ▼-5	Display special symbols for positive and negative, combined with colors.
;;;»•» @	Eggs Bacon	• Eggs • Bacon	Create a bulleted list using a special symbol for the bullet. When you enter text, the bullet will be displayed. Numbers and zero values will not be displayed.

Displaying Fractions

Format Code	Value	Displayed As	Description
# ??/12	5.75 12.5	5 9/12 12 6/12	Display a decimal number of feet as feet and inches (rounded to the nearest inch). Or display a decimal year in terms of years and months.
# ??/100	5.2 5.05 12.81	5 20/100  5  5/100 12 81/100	Using ??/100 will help line up values in a column (as opposed to just using ?/100). Note that fractions are automatically rounded.
?/2	5.2	10/2	Displays a simple fraction as numerator/denominator.

Trailing and Leading Characters to Fill a Cell

The asterisk (*) in a format code repeats the following character to fill the width of the cell.

Format Code	Value	Displayed As	Description
— @ *-	✁	— ✁ —————-	Trailing characters.
*.@	pg 2	………………pg 2	Leading characters

Custom Number Formats for Chart Axes and Labels

Format Code	Value	Displayed As	Description
0 «AD»;0 «BC»	247 -600	247 AD 600 BC	AD and BC Years. Use negative numbers for BC years and positive numbers for AD years.
mmm{Ctrl+j}yyyy	8/20/18	Aug 2018	Add a Carriage Return within the custom number format (e.g. between dddd and mmm) by pressing Ctrl+j.
[Color10]▲0.0%;[Red]▼-0.0%	15.23% -23.57%	▲15.2% ▼-23.6%	Display arrows for positive and negative, combined with colors and percentages.

A couple of these examples can be seen in the image below. However, notice that the data labels don’t use color codes, so the percentages are shown only as black text rather than red and green. Too bad. Maybe Microsoft will fix that some day.

NOTE Editing a custom number format that contains a carriage return is tricky because you can’t see the second row. This is why I write out the code first using «{Ctrl+j}» or just «{j}» and then delete the «{j}» and press Ctrl+j in its place.

When adding a custom number format using the Format Axis window pane, you may not be able to press Ctrl+j to add a carriage return. In that case, first edit the format of the data source, then click on the Link to Source box as shown in the image to the right. After doing that, you can uncheck the Link to Source box and modify the original data source formatting.

Other Tricks

Format Code	Value	Displayed As	Description
;;;	anything		Display nothing, regardless of the value.
0.#	2	2.	Display a decimal point without a 0 after the decimal (2. instead of 2.0)
???.???	1.2 12.3 123.456	1.2    12.3   123.456	Vertically align the decimal point when displaying a column of numbers.

NOTE If you are looking for format codes for phone numbers, social security numbers, or zip codes, look in the Special category within the list of built-in number formats.

Custom Number Format Color Codes

By using color format codes such as [Red] or [Blue] or [Color10], you have a limited ability to alter the color of the font via custom number formats. The most common use I’ve seen is to color negative values red. However, one of the examples above also shows how you might want to use a green arrow.

Even though a new color palette was introduced in Excel 2007, the color codes for custom number formats are still based on the old color palette for the Excel 97-2003 format. I created the graphic below to provide a quick reference.

I made the above color code reference match the layout of the old color palette because there is not a consistent pattern to the numbering.

Define Your Own Color: You can modify the color palette in newer versions of Excel by going to File > Options > Save > Colors. This allows you to change the color associated with the Color1 through Color56 codes. This means that Color10 might not always be a dark green. If you purposely change the color palette (or somebody else does), Color10 might be some other color.

Excel 2016: File > Options > Save > Colors

NOTE The Color1-56 codes in Google Sheets are fixed colors and aren’t changed when you upload an Excel file with a customized color palette.

Conditional Operators

Conditional operators such as [<100] can be used to change the formatting in cases where positive;negative;0 is not how you want the divisions defined.

For example, the following format will display numbers less than 10 red, numbers between 10 and 20 green, other numbers blue, and text will be displayed based on the cell’s font color: [Red][<10]0.00;[Green][<=20]0.00;[Blue]0.00;@

You are limited to 2 numeric conditions, which you place in the negative and positive sections of the format code.

Another use of conditional operators is to display phone numbers with and without an area code, depending on how many digits are in the phone number like this: [<=9999999]###-####;(###)###-####. This assumes that the phone numbers are entered as numbers and not text values. Meaning, that if you actually enter 123-1234 into a cell in Excel, it will be interpreted as a text value, not a number. The phone number format will display 1234567 to 123-4567 and it will display 1234567890 to (123)456-7890.

Custom Location Codes for Dates

When displaying month names and weekday names for dates, you can use location codes such as [$-fr-CA] at the beginning of the format code to tell Excel to display the names in other languages. To learn what the code is for a specific language and location, use the Format Cells dialog in Excel, choose one of the built-in Date formats, then choose the Locale (location) from the drop-down list. Then you can return to the Format Cells dialog box and click on the Custom tab to see what location code was added.

Format Code	Value	Displayed As	Language/Location
[$-en-US](ddd) mmm d, yyyy	10/1/2018	(Mon) Oct 1, 2018	English (United States)
[$-fr-CA](ddd) mmm d, yyyy	8/1/2018	(mer.) août 1, 2018	French (Canada)
[$-de-DE](ddd) mmm d, yyyy	10/1/2018	(Mo) Okt 1, 2018	German (Germany)

Other Notes About Custom Number Formats

To delete a custom number format, open the Format Cells dialog box, select the custom format from the list, then click Delete. When you delete a custom number format, all values in your workbook that use that format will revert to the General format.

Custom number formats that you create are saved with the file. If you want to use the custom format in a different file, you can copy/paste the formatting from your other file by copying and pasting the formatted cell or using the Format Painter tool.

References

• Number Formats for Charts by Jon Peltier, Excel MVP
• Excel Custom Number Format Guide by Mynda Treacy, Excel MVP

December 08, 2019/



Chris Newman

What Are Custom Number Formats?

I love to explain number formats in Excel as the “clothing” of a spreadsheet cell. You can dress your cell values in any way you’d like but even though the outward appearance is different, the underlying value never changes.

This concept is used most frequently with dates:

Did you know that a date is actually just a numerical number at its core? You can see the true value of the date used in the above example by looking at the “General” format result. However, most people dress this number up to look like a date with forward-slashes.

4 Parts of a Number Format Rule

There are four parts or sections to a Custom Number Format rule. The first section is required while the additional three are optional. Each section is divided up by the use of a semi-colon ( ; ). Here is what each part of the number format rule represents:

1. If the number is positive then do this…

2. If the number is negative then do this…

3. If the number equals zero then do this…

4. If the value is not a number then do this…

A Few Caveats

• If only the first section has a format rule, it will be applied to all numerical values whether positive or negative (text values will be left alone)

• If only the first two sections have format rules, zero values will use the positive value format

Using the Number Format Editor

In order to write your own custom number format rules, you will need to navigate to the rule editor. The editor resides within the Format Cells dialog box where you can modify all the properties/formats of a cell.

There are multiple ways to navigate to the Format Cells dialog box:

• [Method 1] Right-click on cell >> Select Format Cells…

• [Method 2] Home Tab >> Number Button group >> click Grey Arrow in bottom corner

• [Method 3] Use the Keyboard Shortcut: ctrl + 1 (PC) | cmd + 1 (Mac)

Once you have opened the Format Cells dialog box, you will want to navigate to the Number tab. This tab will show you a bunch of preset number format rules you can navigate through or if you would like to write your own rule, you can navigate all the way to the bottom of the Category Pane and click Custom.

Special Characters & What They Do

There are a few special characters you can utilize while writing a Custom Number Format rule to add even more varieties to your value’s appearance. Let’s first look at the special characters available to you and then we will get into some examples.

Character	What It Does
@	A placeholder for text
,	Separates thousands
*	Repeats character immediately following it
0	Forces the display of a numerical value
#	Placeholder for an optional digit
?	Used to align digits at various lengths
_	Add a space sized as the character immediately following it

Just by including one of these symbols, your Custom Number Format rule will automatically use its special ability. If you wish to include one of these symbols without their ability, see how to do so in the “Escaping” section of this article (scroll down a few sections).

@ Symbol

The @ symbol is used to control where your text value shows up in your rule. You can place modifications to your text value before or after your text via relocating the @ symbol within the rule.

Comma Symbol

The comma symbol can be used to separate your numbers in thousands or to round large numbers to a specific place (Millions, Billions, etc…).

If you place a comma in front of your “ones” place, you will gain the ability to see a comma separate your value every three places. You only need to use a single comma in order to trigger this format.

If you place a comma behind your “ones” place, the value will VISUALLY lose three places (essentially dividing 1,000). This behavior continues to occur for each additional comma you add behind your “ones” place.

Asterisk Symbol

An asterisk symbol can be used to fill the remaining space within a cell with the character immediately following it. I’ve typically only seen this done when someone is creating a contact list where they would like dots to connect the values in column 1 and column 2.

Zero Number

Using a zero in a number format rule will force that number place to be shown visually. If you would like all your numbers to show three digits, insert three zeros into your rule and 1 will equal 001. This can be very usual in cleaning up your numerical values to ensure they all visually align with one another.

Pound/Hash Symbol

The pound (or hash) symbol serves as an optional placeholder for digits if they exist. If you value exceeds the number of pound signs to the right of your decimal, the format rule will round your value to align with your designated amount of pound symbols. If your value has less digits than pound symbols, a zero will not populate in its place.

Question Mark Symbol

Question marks can be used to align digits when you don’t necessarily want zeros to show up as numerical placeholders. When a question mark resides in a place where no value is provided, a space will be added (shown in grey below) to maintain the alignment of the number.

Underscore Symbol

By using the underscore symbol you can add a single space either before or after your cell value. The character immediately following the underscore determines the size of the space. In most cases, Excel users use the underscore symbol to line up positive and negative numbers that use parenthesis.

Escaping Special Characters

There may be instances where you literally want to use one of the above characters instead of utilizing their special abilities. To remove the special ability (or “escape” the ability), just place a back-slash before the character. You’ll need to place a backslash before each individual symbol you wish to escape.

Adding Text

There may be occasions when you would like to add text before or after your values but still would like to perform spreadsheet math with your data. With Custom Number Format rules, we can easily accomplish making numerical values appear as text visuals while maintaining their cell value.

About The Author

Hey there! I’m Chris and I run TheSpreadsheetGuru website in my spare time. By day, I’m actually a finance professional who relies on Microsoft Excel quite heavily in the corporate world. I love taking the things I learn in the “real world” and sharing them with everyone here on this site so that you too can become a spreadsheet guru at your company.

Through my years in the corporate world, I’ve been able to pick up on opportunities to make working with Excel better and have built a variety of Excel add-ins, from inserting tickmark symbols to automating copy/pasting from Excel to PowerPoint. If you’d like to keep up to date with the latest Excel news and directly get emailed the most meaningful Excel tips I’ve learned over the years, you can sign up for my free newsletters. I hope I was able to provide you with some value today and I hope to see you back here soon!

— Chris
Founder, TheSpreadsheetGuru.com