Formatting cells

Hello students, welcome to Kwickprep. Can one number show as a date, as rupees and as a percentage? Yes, it can, and the number itself never changes. Today we will learn the Format Cells dialog box and its six tabs, so you can control exactly how every cell looks.

Cell formatting means deciding how a cell looks. The value inside stays exactly the same, so formulas still use the real value. As always, first select the cells you want to change. Then open the Format Cells dialog box, which is a small window full of settings. Press Ctrl+1, or right click the cells and choose Format Cells.

In Excel, the Format Cells box has six tabs. The Number tab controls how numbers are shown, such as with a rupee sign or a percent sign. The Alignment tab controls where data sits in the cell. The Font tab controls the letters, such as bold or red. The Border tab draws lines. The Fill tab colours the background. The Protection tab marks cells as locked or hidden, which matters only when the sheet is protected.

Let us look at the Number tab more closely, using the value zero point two five. General is the default, with no special format. Number lets you choose decimal places and a thousands separator. Currency adds the rupee symbol. Percentage multiplies by one hundred for display, so it shows twenty five percent. Fraction shows it as one by four. Text treats the entry as plain text, which is useful for codes. There are also Date, Time, Accounting, Scientific, Special and Custom.

Here is a surprise that exams like. A spreadsheet stores every date as a serial number, counting days from the first of January nineteen hundred. With a long date format, the date shows as fifteen August twenty twenty six. Change the format to General, and the same cell shows forty six thousand two hundred forty nine. Give that number a short date format, and the date comes back.

Data entry operators meet this problem every day. Type zero zero seven in a normal cell, and the spreadsheet removes the zeros and shows only seven. To keep the zeros, format the cells as Text before you type. Or type an apostrophe first, and the apostrophe itself is not shown. Use Text for codes that are never added up, like PIN codes, mobile numbers and roll codes.

The Alignment tab gives more control than the toolbar. Horizontal alignment places data left, centre or right across the cell. Vertical alignment places it at the top, middle or bottom of a tall cell. Wrap text breaks long text into lines inside the cell, like an address. Orientation rotates text, for example ninety degrees, for narrow headings. Shrink to fit makes the letters smaller so all the text fits without widening the column.

On the Border tab, first choose the line style, such as thin or thick, and a colour. Then click Outline for the outer box, Inside for lines between cells, or click single edges in the preview. On the Fill tab, choose a background colour, or even a pattern. Choose light colours, so black text stays easy to read, especially on a printout.

Let us format a school fee receipt in four steps. Select the amount cells and choose Currency with two decimal places, so fees show as rupees. Select the date cell and pick a day month year date format. Format the student ID cell as Text, so zero zero four five keeps its zeros. Finally, give the heading a bold font, a light blue fill and an outline border.

Pause and predict. Cell A1 holds zero point one eight, formatted as a percentage with no decimals. Cell A2 multiplies A1 by one thousand. What does A1 show? It shows eighteen percent. What does A2 show? It shows one hundred eighty, because the formula uses the real value, zero point one eight. The percent sign was only the look.

Sometimes you want to start again. In Excel, go to the Home tab, click the Clear button with the eraser, and choose Clear Formats. This removes the formatting, but your data stays. Be careful, because Clear All removes both the data and the formatting. In LibreOffice Calc, the same job is Format, then Clear Direct Formatting, or Ctrl+M.

Let us revise. Ctrl+1 opens the Format Cells box. It has six tabs: Number, Alignment, Font, Border, Fill and Protection. Dates are stored as serial numbers, and the format decides how they look. Use the Text format to keep leading zeros in codes. And formatting only changes the look, never the value that formulas use.