Format tools

You can find all your basic formatting tools by selecting the cells which you want to format and then simply right click on the selection. Then select format cells.

In format cells the following pop up screen will show.

Number tab: Here you can select which number format you wish to use. Remember dates, text and numbers is different formatting and might look differently. You can also create a custom format at the bottom. Let’s look at the different options.
General: This is when there is not specific format. See example of the number.

Number: This is a general number format. This will add proper thousand separators and the amount of decimals you need. You can also select to show negative numbers in red here. Please note that you do have a choice between seeing spaces or commas as thousand separators. You have to change this setting in your general computer settings. See example of number.

Currency: This will show your number in a currency format. You can choose more than one option. Also note the same thousand separator as in numbers. See example

Accounting: This is basically the same as the currency format, but you do not have a choice to show negative numbers in red

Date: This will show dates in a proper date format. Remember dates are actually numbers so to see these numbers in proper format you need to use these. You can select different ways of showing dates. See the same number as in the examples above, now shows a date.

Time: This will show correct formats for time. Note the different ways of showing it.

Percentage: This shows percentages as proper percentage formats. See example

Fraction: Here is a few neat options to show percentages as fractions. Here is a lot of different options. See example of how 0.25 would look

Scientific: This is normally used to show big numbers that does not fit in a cell. Rarely used.

Text: This will show numbers as text with no thousand separators or decimals

Special: This has a few special options. For example to show phone numbers in the correct format. You should select English (United States) to see the options

Custom: This will allow you to either use a few unique formats or create your own. For example in the example below we ensure that the specific cell will always be a certain number of characters long by adding zeros.

Alignment tab: This will help to align the content in cells the way you wish, on top, at the bottom or in the middle. Useful features in here are the wrap text, shrink to fit and merge cells.

Wrap text is when you make the contents of a cell fit. For example, in the below cell we have a very long sentence which goes over to the next cell:

If we were to stand on the cell and select wrap text, it would fit the contents (not shrink the text, just increase the height of the cell to fit)

Shrink to fit is exactly what is sais, it will shrink the text to fit without increasing the cell size, like below:

Merge cells is when you combine two or more cells into one. For example, in the below screen I have 3 cells in borders.

If I were to merge them, they will become one cell. You can also find this function in the home menu.

Fonts tab: This is where you choose the style of fonts you want your contents to be and what colour the text needs to be.

Border tab: Border is where you make border/tables. You basically colour in the lines around cells.

Here we select a specific range and selected the borders I want on it.

Fill tab: Fill is used to colour in a cell or a range of cells: Just select the cells and select the colour you want it to be.

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