3/13/24, 8:59 AM Excel 2016: Understanding Number Formats

Excel 2016
Understanding Number Formats

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, like percentages (%), currency ($), times, dates, and so on.

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

Excel: Understanding Number Formats

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 types 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.

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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 choosing the desired formatting option. There are two
main ways to choose a number format:

▶︎ 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.

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.

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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:

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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 tutorials 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.

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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 many 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:

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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. Because 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.

Try entering the dates below into a spreadsheet and see if the date format is applied
automatically:

▶︎ 10/12

▶︎ October

▶︎ October 12

▶︎ October 2016

▶︎ 10/12/2016

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▶︎ October 12, 2016

▶︎ 2016

▶︎ October 12th

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

Excel Quick Tip: Add the Current Date to a Cell

Other date formatting options

To access other date formatting options, select the Number Format drop-down menu
and choose More Number Formats. These are options to display the date differently,
like including the day of the week or omitting the year.

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The Format Cells 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.

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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
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.

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▶︎ 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, like 02415. For best results, you may want to
apply the text number format before entering data into these cells.

Increase and Decrease Decimal

The Increase Decimal and Decrease Decimal commands allow you to control how
many decimal places are displayed in a cell. These commands don't change the value of
the cell; instead, they display the value to a set number of decimal places.

Decreasing the decimal will display the value rounded to that decimal place, but the
actual value in the cell will still be displayed in the formula bar.

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The Increase/Decrease Decimal commands don't work with some number

formats, like Date and Fraction.

Challenge!
1 Open our practice workbook.

2 In cell D2, type today's date and press Enter.

3 Click cell D2 and verify that it is using a Date number format. Try changing
it to a different date format (for example, Long Date).

4 In cell D2, use the Format Cells dialog box to choose the 14-Mar-12 date
format.

5 Change the sales tax rate in cell D8 to the Percentage format.

6 Apply the Currency format to all of column B.

7 In cell D8, use the Increase Decimal or Decrease Decimal command to

change the number of decimal places to one. It should now display 7.5%.

8 When you're finished, your spreadsheet should look like this:

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