What is text formatting in excel

Excel formatting and features that are not transferred to other file formats

The .xlsx workbook format introduced in Excel 2007 preserves all worksheet and chart data, formatting, and other features available in earlier Excel versions, and the Macro-Enabled Workbook format (.xlsm) preserves macros and macro sheets in addition to those features.

If you frequently share workbook data with people who use an earlier version of Excel, you can work in Compatibility Mode to prevent the loss of data and fidelity when the workbook is opened in the earlier version of Excel, or you can use converters that help you transition the data. For more information, see Save an Excel workbook for compatibility with earlier versions of Excel.

If you save a workbook in another file format, such as a text file format, some of the formatting and data might be lost, and other features might not be supported.

The following file formats have feature and formatting differences as described.

In this article

Formatted Text (Space delimited)

This file format (.prn) saves only the text and values as they are displayed in cells of the active worksheet.

If a row of cells contains more than 240 characters, any characters beyond 240 wrap to a new line at the end of the converted file. For example, if rows 1 through 10 each contain more than 240 characters, the remaining text in row 1 is placed in row 11, the remaining text in row 2 is placed in row 12, and so on.

Columns of data are separated by commas, and each row of data ends in a carriage return. If cells display formulas instead of formula values, the formulas are converted as text. All formatting, graphics, objects, and other worksheet contents are lost. The euro symbol will be converted to a question mark.

Note: Before saving a worksheet in this format, make sure that all of the data that you want converted is visible and that there is adequate spacing between the columns. Otherwise, data may be lost or not properly separated in the converted file. You may need to adjust the column widths of the worksheet before you convert it to formatted text format.

Text (Tab delimited)

This file format (.txt) saves only the text and values as they are displayed in cells of the active worksheet.

Columns of data are separated by tab characters, and each row of data ends in a carriage return. If a cell contains a comma, the cell contents are enclosed in double quotation marks. If the data contains a quotation mark, double quotation marks will replace the quotation mark, and the cell contents are also enclosed in double quotation marks. All formatting, graphics, objects, and other worksheet contents are lost. The euro symbol will be converted to a question mark.

If cells display formulas instead of formula values, the formulas are saved as text. To preserve the formulas if you reopen the file in Excel, select the Delimited option in the Text Import Wizard, and select tab characters as the delimiters.

Note: If your workbook contains special font characters, such as a copyright symbol ( ©), and you will be using the converted text file on a computer with a different operating system, save the workbook in the text file format that is appropriate for that system. For example, if you are using Microsoft Windows and want to use the text file on a Macintosh computer, save the file in the Text (Macintosh) format. If you are using a Macintosh computer and want to use the text file on a system running Windows or Windows NT, save the file in the Text (Windows) format.

Text (Unicode)

This file format (.txt) saves all text and values as they appear in cells of the active worksheet.

However, if you open a file in Text (Unicode) format by using a program that does not read Unicode, such as Notepad in Windows 95 or a Microsoft MS-DOS-based program, your data will be lost.

Note: Notepad in Windows NT reads files in Text (Unicode) format.

CSV (Comma delimited)

This file format (.csv) saves only the text and values as they are displayed in cells of the active worksheet. All rows and all characters in each cell are saved. Columns of data are separated by commas, and each row of data ends in a carriage return. If a cell contains a comma, the cell contents are enclosed in double quotation marks.

If cells display formulas instead of formula values, the formulas are converted as text. All formatting, graphics, objects, and other worksheet contents are lost. The euro symbol will be converted to a question mark.

Note: If your workbook contains special font characters such as a copyright symbol ( ©), and you will be using the converted text file on a computer with a different operating system, save the workbook in the text file format that is appropriate for that system. For example, if you are using Windows and want to use the text file on a Macintosh computer, save the file in the CSV (Macintosh) format. If you are using a Macintosh computer and want to use the text file on a system running Windows or Windows NT, save the file in the CSV (Windows) format.

DIF (Data Interchange Format)

This file format (.dif) saves only the text, values, and formulas on the active worksheet.

If worksheet options are set to display formula results in the cells, only the formula results are saved in the converted file. To save the formulas, display the formulas on the worksheet before saving the file.

How to display formulas in worksheet cells

Go to File > Options.

If you’re using Excel 2007, click the Microsoft Office Button then click Excel Options.

Then go to Advanced > Display options for this worksheet and select the Show formulas in cells instead of their calculated results check box.

Column widths and most number formats are saved, but all other formats are lost.

Page setup settings and manual page breaks are lost.

Cell comments, graphics, embedded charts, objects, form controls, hyperlinks, data validation settings, conditional formatting, and other worksheet features are lost.

The data displayed in the current view of a PivotTable report is saved; all other PivotTable data is lost.

Microsoft Visual Basic for Applications (VBA) code is lost.

The euro symbol will be converted to a question mark.

SYLK (Symbolic Link)

This file format (.slk) saves only the values and formulas on the active worksheet, and limited cell formatting.

Up to 255 characters are saved per cell.

If an Excel function is not supported in SYLK format, Excel calculates the function before saving the file and replaces the formula with the resulting value.

Most text formats are saved; converted text takes on the format of the first character in the cell. Rotated text, merged cells, and horizontal and vertical text alignment settings are lost. The font color might be converted to a different color if you reopen the converted SYLK sheet in Excel. Borders are converted to single-line borders. Cell shading is converted to a dotted gray shading.

Page setup settings and manual page breaks are lost.

Cell comments are saved. You can display the comments if you reopen the SYLK file in Excel.

Graphics, embedded charts, objects, form controls, hyperlinks, data validation settings, conditional formatting, and other worksheet features are lost.

VBA code is lost.

The data displayed in the current view of a PivotTable report is saved; all other PivotTable data is lost.

Note: You can use this format to save workbook files for use in Microsoft Multiplan. Excel does not include file format converters for converting workbook files directly into the Multiplan format.

Web Page and Single File Web Page

These Web Page file formats (.htm, .html), Single File Web Page file formats (.mht, .mhtml) can be used for exporting Excel data. In Excel 2007 and later, worksheet features (such as formulas, charts, PivotTables, and Visual Basic for Application (VBA) projects) are no longer supported in these file formats, and they will be lost when you open a file in this file format again in Excel.

XML Spreadsheet 2003

This XML Spreadsheet 2003 file format (.xml) does not retain the following features:

Auditing tracer arrows

Chart and other graphic objects

Chart sheets, macro sheets, dialog sheets

Data consolidation references

Drawing object layers

Outlining and grouping features

Password-protected worksheet data

User-defined function categories

New features introduced with Excel 2007 and later versions, such as improved conditional formatting, are not supported in this file format. The new row and column limits introduced with Excel 2007 are supported. For more information, see: Excel specifications and limits.

Need more help?

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

Источник

How to control and understand settings in the Format Cells dialog box in Excel

Summary

Microsoft Excel lets you change many of the ways it displays data in a cell. For example, you can specify the number of digits to the right of a decimal point, or you can add a pattern and border to the cell. You can access and modify the majority of these settings in the Format Cells dialog box (on the Format menu, click Cells).

The «More Information» section of this article provides information about each of the settings available in the Format Cells dialog box and how each of these settings can affect the way your data is presented.

More Information

There are six tabs in the Format Cells dialog box: Number, Alignment, Font, Border, Patterns, and Protection. The following sections describe the settings available in each tab.

Number Tab

Auto Number Formatting

By default, all worksheet cells are formatted with the General number format. With the General format, anything you type into the cell is usually left as-is. For example, if you type 36526 into a cell and then press ENTER, the cell contents are displayed as 36526. This is because the cell remains in the General number format. However, if you first format the cell as a date (for example, d/d/yyyy) and then type the number 36526, the cell displays 1/1/2000.

There are also other situations where Excel leaves the number format as General, but the cell contents are not displayed exactly as they were typed. For example, if you have a narrow column and you type a long string of digits like 123456789, the cell might instead display something like 1.2E+08. If you check the number format in this situation, it remains as General.

Finally, there are scenarios where Excel may automatically change the number format from General to something else, based on the characters that you typed into the cell. This feature saves you from having to manually make the easily recognized number format changes. The following table outlines a few examples where this can occur:

If you type	Excel automatically assigns this number format
1.0	General
1.123	General
1.1%	0.00%
1.1E+2	0.00E+00
1 1/2	# ?/?
$1.11	Currency, 2 decimal places
1/1/01	Date
1:10	Time

Generally speaking, Excel applies automatic number formatting whenever you type the following types of data into a cell:

Built-in Number Formats

Excel has a large array of built-in number formats from which you can choose. To use one of these formats, click any one of the categories below General and then select the option that you want for that format. When you select a format from the list, Excel automatically displays an example of the output in the Sample box on the Number tab. For example, if you type 1.23 in the cell and you select Number in the category list, with three decimal places, the number 1.230 is displayed in the cell.

These built-in number formats actually use a predefined combination of the symbols listed below in the «Custom Number Formats» section. However, the underlying custom number format is transparent to you.

The following table lists all of the available built-in number formats:

Number format	Notes
Number	Options include: the number of decimal places, whether or not the thousands separator is used, and the format to be used for negative numbers.
Currency	Options include: the number of decimal places, the symbol used for the currency, and the format to be used for negative numbers. This format is used for general monetary values.
Accounting	Options include: the number of decimal places, and the symbol used for the currency. This format lines up the currency symbols and decimal points in a column of data.
Date	Select the style of the date from the Type list box.
Time	Select the style of the time from the Type list box.
Percentage	Multiplies the existing cell value by 100 and displays the result with a percent symbol. If you format the cell first and then type the number, only numbers between 0 and 1 are multiplied by 100. The only option is the number of decimal places.
Fraction	Select the style of the fraction from the Type list box. If you do not format the cell as a fraction before typing the value, you may have to type a zero or space before the fractional part. For example, if the cell is formatted as General and you type 1/4 in the cell, Excel treats this as a date. To type it as a fraction, type 0 1/4 in the cell.
Scientific	The only option is the number of decimal places.
Text	Cells formatted as text will treat anything typed into the cell as text, including numbers.
Special	Select one of the following from the Type box: Zip Code, Zip Code + 4, Phone Number, and Social Security Number.

Custom Number Formats

If one of the built-in number formats does not display the data in the format that you require, you can create your own custom number format. You can create these custom number formats by modifying the built-in formats or by combining the formatting symbols into your own combination.

Before you create your own custom number format, you need to be aware of a few simple rules governing the syntax for number formats:

Each format that you create can have up to three sections for numbers and a fourth section for text.

The first section is the format for positive numbers, the second for negative numbers, and the third for zero values.

These sections are separated by semicolons.

If you have only one section, all numbers (positive, negative, and zero) are formatted with that format.

You can prevent any of the number types (positive, negative, zero) from being displayed by not typing symbols in the corresponding section. For example, the following number format prevents any negative or zero values from being displayed:

To set the color for any section in the custom format, type the name of the color in brackets in the section. For example, the following number format formats positive numbers blue and negative numbers red:

Instead of the default positive, negative and zero sections in the format, you can specify custom criteria that must be met for each section. The conditional statements that you specify must be contained within brackets. For example, the following number format formats all numbers greater than 100 as green, all numbers less than or equal to -100 as yellow, and all other numbers as cyan:

Источник

Excel Formatting Text (Table of Contents)

• Introduction to Formatting Text in Excel
• Text Formatting Tools

Introduction to Formatting Text in Excel

Excel has a wide range of variety for text formatting, which can make your results, dashboards, spreadsheets, an analysis that you do on day to day basis look fancier and attractive at the same time. Text formatting in Excel works in the same way as it does in other Microsoft tools such as Word and PowerPoint. This includes changing Font, Font Size, Font Color, Font Attribute (Such as making text, Bold, Italic, Underlined, etc.), text alignment, background color change, etc. This article will cover these text formatting tools in Excel along with examples for better understanding. Basically, all text formatting can be divided into two major groups, which are Font and Alignment. Each group has a variety of options using which we can format the text values and has its own relevance. e.g. within Font, you can have all the options associated with text fonts.

Please find attached is the screenshot for your reference:

Text Formatting Tools

All these text formatting tools are placed under the home tab. I am not considering the Clipboard in it because most of its part contains the cut, copy, paste, and Format Painter. Let’s start with Font and its options.

You can download this Formatting Text Excel Template here – Formatting Text Excel Template

1. Text Font

The first thing that comes into the picture when we talk about text formatting is Text Font. The default text font in Excel is set as Calibri (Body). However, it can be changed to any of the variety available in the fonts section.

Let’s add some text under cell A1 of the Excel sheet.

As can be seen through the screenshot above, we have added as text “Hello World!” under cell A1 of the Excel sheet.

Navigate towards the Font section, where the default value is set as Calibri. Click on the dropdown menu, and you can see multiple fonts in which you can use for the text in cell A1. Choose anyone of your choice; I will use the Arial Black.

Now, we will try to change the font size.

Select the cell containing text (A1 in our example) and navigate towards the Font Size dropdown placed besides the Font option. Click on the dropdown, and you can see different font sizes starting from as low as 8. I will change the font size to 16. Please see the screenshot below for your reference.

You can also increase or decrease the font size using the Increase Font Size and Decrease Font Size buttons, which are placed right beside the Font Size dropdown. See the screenshot below:

The next part comes when we have to change the text appearance. This covers the Bold, Italic, underlined text as well as coloring the text and/or cell containing the same.

Select the cell containing text and click on the bold button. It will make the text appear in bold. You can also achieve this by hitting Ctrl + B keys.

Select the cell and click on the Italic button that converts the text into Italic font. This can be achieved through a keyboard shortcut Ctrl + I.

You can underline the text by using the Underline button that is placed besides the Italic button; the keyboard shortcut to achieve this result is Ctrl + U. There is one more option for the underlined section, and it is Double Underline. It adds a double underline to the current cell containing text. See the screenshot below for better visualization of these two options.

We also have an option to change the text color for a given text. This option is placed under the Font section in your excel ribbon. You can simply click on the change color dropdown and see different colors to add for the current text value. See the screenshot below for your reference:

This is how we can format the text using the Font Group. Now we will move towards the second group called Alignment.

2. Text Alignment

This part also plays an important role in text formatting. We have several alignment options available under this Group. We will see that one by one. Text alignment is of 6 types in total. The first three are Top Align, Middle Align, and Bottom Align. These are placed at the top most tier under the Alignment group.

Exactly below to these three, there are three more alignment options. Align Left, Center and Align Right. They are placed in the second tier of the options under the Alignment group.

The third part that gets covered under the Alignment group is the Text Rotation option. This option has different text rotation options available, allowing you to rotate the text with angles (clockwise)and vertically (up and Down). This feature is rarely used though sometimes it is really helpful when you want to do something different with the headings of your reports.

Forth thing that gets covered under the Alignment section is the indentation. Most of us fail to recognize when to add or decrease an indentation. However, you don’t need to keep it in your mind. Excel has Increase Indent and Decrease Indent option that helps you either increase or decrease the indent in your current text.

The fifth and last thing that comes under alignment is Wrap Text and Merge& Center option. Well, these two are the most commonly used alignment operations in Excel. Wrap Text shows text in one single cell even if that text goes beyond the cell boundaries. On the other hand, Merge & Center merges the data across the multiple cells and then makes a centered alignment for the merged text. If you click on Merge & Center button again, it removes the effect; however, the text gets filled in the left most cell or a cell under which it has actually been entered.

The above screenshot emphasizes the use of Wrap Text. The actual text under A1 is beyond the cell boundary. However, with it having wrapped, it is under the cell boundary.

This screenshot emphasizes the use of Merge and Center. Instead of wrapping the text under same cell, we have tried it to merge across three cells A3:C3 and it looks nicer than before. This is how Merge & Center works.

This is how we can format the text under Excel. Now let’s wrap things up with some points to be remembered about Text Formatting in Excel.

Things to Remember

• Font and Alignment covers most of the Text Formatting options under Excel
• Some of the users also consider Conditional Formatting as a part of Text Formatting. It sometimes can be used to format the text. However, it is not dedicated to text formatting (We can also use conditional formatting on numbers).
• You can use the Format Painter option under Clipboard to copy the text format and apply it to some other text in some other cell or sheet.

Recommended Articles

This has been a guide to Formatting Text in Excel. Here we discuss How to use Formatting Text in Excel along with practical examples and a downloadable excel template. You can also go through our other suggested articles –

1. VBA Conditional Formatting
2. Excel Text with Formula
3. Search For Text in Excel
4. Count Cells with Text in Excel

How to Format Text in Excel?

Formatting text in Excel includes color, font name, font size, alignment, font appearance in bold, underline, italic, background color of the font cell, etc.

You can download this Formatting Text Excel Template here – Formatting Text Excel Template

#1 Text Name

We can format the text font from default to any other available fonts in Excel. Likewise, we can insert any text value in any of the cells.

Under the “Home” tab, we can see so many formatting options available.

Formatting has been categorized into six groups: “Clipboard,” “Font,” “Alignment,” “Number,” and “Styles.”

In this, we are formatting the font of cell value A1, “Hello Excel.” For this, under the “Font” category, click on the “Font Name” drop-down list and select the font name as per wish.

We hover over one of the font names above. We can see the quick preview in cell A1. If you are satisfied with the font style, click on the name to fix the font name for the selected cell value.

#2 Font Size

Similarly, we can also format the font size of the text in a cell. Just type the font size in numbers next to the font name option.

Enter the font size in numbers to see the impact.

#3 Text Appearance

We can modify the default view of the text value. For example, we can make the text value look bold, italic, and underlined. Look at font size and name options. We can see all these three options.

As per the format, we can apply formatting to text value.

• We have applied the “Bold” formatting using the Ctrl + B shortcut excel keyAn Excel shortcut is a technique of performing a manual task in a quicker way.read more.

• To apply “Italic” formatting, use the Ctrl + I shortcut key.

• To apply “Underline” formatting, use the Ctrl + U shortcut key.

• The below image shows a combination of all the above three options.

• If we want to apply a double underline, click on the drop-down list of underline options and choose “Double Underline.”

#4 Text Color

We can format the default font color (black) of text to any colors available.

• Click on the drop-down list of the “Font Color” option and change as per choice.

#5 Text Alignment

We can format the alignment of the Excel text under the “Alignment” group.

• We can do a left alignment, right alignment, middle alignment, top alignment, and bottom alignment.

#6 Text Orientation

The important thing under “Alignment” is the “Orientation” of the text value.

Under “Orientation,” we can rotate text values diagonally or vertically.

• Angle Counterclockwise

• Angle Clockwise

• Vertical Text

• Rotate Text Up

• Rotate Text Down

• Under “Format Cell Alignment, we have many options. Click on this option and experiment with some techniques to see the impact.

#7 Conditional Text Formatting

Let us see how to apply conditional formattingConditional formatting is a technique in Excel that allows us to format cells in a worksheet based on certain conditions. It can be found in the styles section of the Home tab.read more to text in Excel.

We have learned some of the basic text formatting techniques. How about the idea of formatting only a specific set of values from the group? If we want to find only duplicate values or find unique values.

These are possible through the conditional formatting technique.

For example, look at the below list of cities.

From this list, let us learn some formatting techniques.

#1 – Highlight Specific Value

If we want to highlight only the specific city name, we can only highlight specific city names. For example, assume we want to highlight the city “Bangalore,” then select the data and go to conditional formatting.

Click on the drop-down list in excelA drop-down list in excel is a pre-defined list of inputs that allows users to select an option.read more of “Conditional Formatting” >>> “Highlight cells Rules” >>> “Text that Contains.”

Now, we will see the below window.

Next, we must enter the text value that we need to highlight.

Now from the drop-down list, we must choose the formatting style.

Click on “OK.” Consequently, it will highlight only the supplied text value.

#2 – Highlight Duplicate Value

To highlight duplicate values in excelHighlight Cells Rule, which is available under Conditional Formatting under the Home menu tab, can be used to highlight duplicate values in the selected dataset, whether it is a column or row of a table.read more, follow the below path.

“Conditional Formatting” >>> “Highlight cells Rules” >>> “Duplicate Values.”

Again from the below window, we must select the formatting style.

As a result, it will highlight only the text values that appear more than once.

#3 – Highlight Unique Value

Like how we have highlighted duplicate values similarly, we can highlight all the unique values, i.e., text value that appears only once. Then, the formatting window chooses the “Unique” value option from the duplicate values.

It will highlight only the unique values.

Things to Remember

• We must learn shortcut keys to format text values in Excel quickly.
• We can use conditional formatting to format some text values based on certain conditions.

Recommended Articles

This article is a guide to formatting text in Excel. We discuss formatting text using text name, font size, appearance, color, etc., with practical examples and downloadable Excel templates. You may learn more about Excel from the following articles: –

• Conditional Formatting in Dates
• Conditional Formatting along with Formulas
• Combine Text From Two Or More Cells