Excel 2010 Bible

Chapter 24: Using Custom Number Formats

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Note
Some of these buttons actually apply predefined styles to the selected cells. Access Excel’s styles by using the
Style gallery, in the Styles group on the Home tab. n

TABLE 24.1

Number-Formatting Buttons on the Ribbon

Button Name Formatting Applied

Accounting Number Format Adds a dollar sign to the left, separates thousands with a comma, and

displays the value with two digits to the right of the decimal point. This is

a drop-down control, so you can select other common currency symbols.

Percent Style Displays the value as a percentage, with no decimal places.

Comma Style Separates thousands with a comma and displays the value with two digits

to the right of the decimal place. It’s like the Accounting number format,

but without the currency symbol.

Increase Decimal Increases the number of digits to the right of the decimal point by one.

Decrease Decimal Decreases the number of digits to the right of the decimal point by one.

Using shortcut keys to format numbers

Another way to apply number formatting is to use shortcut keys. Table 24.2 summarizes the

shortcut key combinations that you can use to apply common number formatting to the selected

cells or range. Notice that these are the shifted versions of the number keys along the top of a

typical keyboard.

TABLE 24.2

Number-Formatting Keyboard Shortcuts

Key Combination Formatting Applied

Ctrl+Shift+~ General number format (that is, unformatted values).

Ctrl+Shift+! Two decimal places, thousands separator, and a hyphen for negative values.

Ctrl+Shift+@ Time format with the hour, minute, and AM or PM.

Ctrl+Shift+# Date format with the day, month, and year.

Ctrl+Shift+$ Currency format with two decimal places. (Negative numbers appear in parentheses.)

Ctrl+Shift+% Percentage format with no decimal places.

Ctrl+Shift+^ Scientific notation number format with two decimal places.