

Holds a place for a digit and displays the digit exactly as typed. For example, if a cell’s custom format is 000 and you enter 25 in the cell, Excel displays 025.


For example, if a cell’s custom format is # and you enter 25 in the cell, Excel displays 25. Displays nothing if no number is entered. The following table lists the special symbols you use to define each of these parts.

Positive format negative format zero format If you leave out one or more of these parts, numbers are controlled as shown in the following table. The first part defines how a positive number is displayed, the second part defines how a negative number is displayed, the third part defines how zero is displayed, and the fourth part defines how text is displayed. The four parts, separated by semicolons, determine how various numbers are presented. Positive format negative format zero format text format The formatting syntax and symbols are explained in detail later in this section.Įvery Excel numeric format, whether built-in or customized, has the following syntax: You can do this either by editing an existing format or by entering your own format from scratch. To overcome these limitations, you need to create your own custom numeric formats. For example, there is no built-in format you can use to display a different currency symbol, such as the Euro symbol (€), or to display temperatures using, say, the degree symbol ( °). However, you can use Excel to go beyond these built-in formats to create custom number and date formats with which you can display your worksheet values exactly as you want them to be seen.Įxcel’s built-in numeric formats give you a great deal of control over how your numbers are displayed, but they have their limitations. Formatting currency amounts with leading dollar signs, percentages with trailing percent signs, and large numbers with commas are a few of the ways you can improve your spreadsheet style. One of the best ways to improve the readability of your worksheets is to display your data in a format that is logical, consistent, and straightforward.
