What is number format in excel

1. Select a cell or a cell range.

2. 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.

3. Select the format you want.

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:

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

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.

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.

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.

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

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

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,

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’.

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.

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.

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.

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, ?)

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.

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

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]

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.

Excel Number Formats

Number Formats

The default Number format is General.

Why change number formats?

• Make data explainable
• Prepare data for functions, so that Excel understands what kind of data you are working with.

Examples of number formats:

• General
• Number
• Currency
• Time

Number formats can be changed by clicking the Number format dropdown, accessed in the Ribbon, found in the Numbers group.

Note: You can switch the Ribbon view to access more Number format options.

Example

In the example we have cells that represent prices, which can be formatted as Currency.

Let’s try to change the format of the prices to the Currency Number format.

Step by step:

1. Mark the range B2:C8
2. Click the Number format dropdown menu
3. Click the Currency format

That’s it! The Number format was changed from General to Currency.

Note: It will use your local currency by default.

Now, do the same for B10, B11 and B13:

Did you make it?

Note: The currency can be changed. For example instead of using USD like in the example you can decide for $ or EUR. It is changed in the dropdrop menu, clicking the More Number Formats in the bottom of the menu. Then, clicking on Currency.

Notice that the numbers look like a mess. Let’s solve that by decreasing the decimals. This helps to make the presentation more neat.

Decimals

The number of decimals can be increased and decreased.

There are two commands:

• Increase Decimal
• Decrease Decimal

Clicking them reduces or increases the number of decimals.

The commands can be found next to the Number format dropdown menu.

Note: Decreasing Decimals can make Excel round up or down numbers as more decimals get removed. This may be confusing if you are working on advanced calculations which require accurate numbers.

Let’s clean this up, step by step:

1. Mark the range B2:C8
2. Click the Decrease Decimal button two times

Great!

Do the same for B10, B11 and B13:

That looks a lot better!

Pro tip: The arrow in the angle in the top left corner by
row 1 and column A can be clicked to mark all cells in the sheet. This can be useful if you want to change the Number format or change Decimals for all cells.

Chapter summary

Number formats can be changed to make the spreadsheet more understandable or to prepare cells for functions. You can increase and decrease decimals to make the presentation neat.

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What are number formats?

Whenever you’re working with a spreadsheet, it’s a good idea to use appropriate number formats for your data. Number formats tell your spreadsheet exactly what type of data you’re using, such as percentages (%), currency ($), times, dates, and so on.

Watch the video below to learn more about number formats in Excel.

Why use number formats?

Number formats don’t just make your spreadsheet easier to read—they also make it easier to use. When you apply a number format, you’re telling your spreadsheet exactly what kinds of values are stored in a cell. For example, the date format tells the spreadsheet that you’re entering specific calendar dates. This allows the spreadsheet to better understand your data, which can help ensure that your data remains consistent and that your formulas are calculated correctly.

If you don’t need to use a specific number format, the spreadsheet will usually apply the general number format by default. However, the general format may apply some small formatting changes to your data.

Applying number formats

Just like other types of formatting, such as changing the font color, you’ll apply number formats by selecting cells and then choosing the desired formatting option. Every spreadsheet program allows you to add number formatting, but the process will vary depending on which application you’re using:

• For Microsoft Excel 2007-2019, go to the Home tab, click the Number Format drop-down menu in the Number group, and select the desired format. You can also click one of the quick number-formatting commands below the drop-down menu.

  

• For Excel 2003 and earlier, go to Format > Cells.

• For Google Sheets, click the More Formats button near the left side of the toolbar—this button will look like the numbers 123. To the left of the command, you can also click the Currency or Percent commands to quickly apply those formats.

For most versions of Microsoft Excel, you can also select the desired cells and press Ctrl+1 on your keyboard to access more number-formatting options.

In this example, we’ve applied the Currency number format, which adds currency symbols ($) and displays two decimal places for any numerical values.

If you select any cells with number formatting, you can see the actual value of the cell in the formula bar. The spreadsheet will use this value for formulas and other calculations.

Using number formats correctly

There’s more to number formatting than selecting cells and applying a format. Spreadsheets can actually apply a lot of number formatting automatically based on the way you enter data. This means you’ll need to enter data in a way the program can understand, and then ensure that those cells are using the proper number format. For example, the image below shows how to use number formats correctly for dates, percentages, and times:

Now that you know more about how number formats work, we’ll look at a few different number formats in action.

Percentage formats

One of the most helpful number formats is the percentage (%) format. It displays values as percentages, such as 20% or 55%. This is especially helpful when calculating things like the cost of sales tax or a tip. When you type a percent sign (%) after a number, the percentage number format will be be applied to that cell automatically.

As you may remember from math class, a percentage can also be written as a decimal. So 15% is the same thing as 0.15, 7.5% is 0.075, 20% is 0.20, 55% is 0.55, and so on. You can review this lesson from our Math tutorial to learn more about converting percentages to decimals.

There are many times when percentage formatting will be useful. For example, in the images below, notice how the sales tax rate is formatted differently for each spreadsheet (5, 5%, and 0.05):

As you can see, the calculation in the spreadsheet on the left didn’t work correctly. Without the percentage number format, our spreadsheet thinks we want to multiply $22.50 by 5, not 5%. And while the spreadsheet on the right still works without percentage formatting, the spreadsheet in the middle is easier to read.

Date formats

Whenever you’re working with dates, you’ll want to use a date format to tell the spreadsheet that you’re referring to specific calendar dates, such as July 15, 2014. Date formats also allow you to work with a powerful set of date functions that use time and date information to calculate an answer.

Spreadsheets don’t understand information the same way a person would. For instance, if you type October into a cell, the spreadsheet won’t know you’re entering a date so it will treat it like any other text. Instead, when you enter a date, you’ll need to use a specific format your spreadsheet understands, such as month/day/year (or day/month/year depending on which country you’re in). In the example below, we’ll type 10/12/2014 for October 12, 2014. Our spreadsheet will then automatically apply the date number format for the cell.

Now that we have our date correctly formatted, we can do lots of different things with this data. For example, we could use the fill handle to continue the dates through the column, so a different day appears in each cell:

If the date formatting isn’t applied automatically, it means the spreadsheet did not understand the data you entered. In the example below, we’ve typed March 15th. The spreadsheet did not understand that we were referring to a date, so this cell is still using the general number format.

On the other hand, if we type March 15 (without the «th»), the spreadsheet will recognize it as a date. Since it doesn’t include a year, the spreadsheet will automatically add the current year so the date will have all of the necessary information. We could also type the date several other ways, such as 3/15, 3/15/2014, or March 15 2014, and the spreadsheet would still recognize it as a date.

If you want to add the current date to a cell, you can use the Ctrl+; shortcut, as shown in the video below.

Other date formatting options

Some programs have more date formatting options, which can change the way dates appear in your spreadsheet. Again, this process this may vary slightly based on the spreadsheet program you’re using. To access these options in Excel 2007-2019, select the Number Format drop-down menu and choose More Number Formats.

A dialog box will appear. From here, you can choose the desired date formatting option.

As you can see in the formula bar, a custom date format doesn’t change the actual date in our cell—it just changes the way it’s displayed.

Number formatting tips

Here are a few tips for getting the best results with number formatting:

• Apply number formatting to an entire column: If you’re planning to use one column for a certain type of data, like dates or percentages, you may find it easiest to select the entire column by clicking the column letter and then applying the desired number formatting. This way, any data you add to this column in the future will already have the correct number format. Note that the header row usually won’t be affected by number formatting.

  

• Double-check your values after applying number formatting: If you apply number formatting to existing data, you may have unexpected results. For example, applying percentage (%) formatting to a cell with a value of 5 will give you 500%, not 5%. In this case, you’d need to retype the values correctly in each cell.

  

  

• If you reference a cell with number formatting in a formula, the spreadsheet may automatically apply the same number formatting to the new cell. For example, if you use a value with currency formatting in a formula, the calculated value will also use the currency number format.

  

• If you want your data to appear exactly as entered, you’ll need to use the text number format. This format is especially good for numbers you don’t want to perform calculations with, such as phone numbers, zip codes, or numbers that begin with 0: for example, «02415». For best results, you may want to apply the text number format before entering data in those cells.

To learn more about applying number formatting in a specific spreadsheet application, review the appropriate lesson from our tutorials below:

• Excel 2007-2019
• Excel 2003
• Google Sheets

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