Microsoft Office

Worksheet Formatting
Formatting your worksheet is like the icing on a cake — it may not be
absolutely necessary, but it can make the end product a lot more attractive.
In an Excel worksheet, formatting can also make it easier for others to
understand the worksheet’s purpose.
Stylistic formatting isn’t essential for every workbook that you develop —
especially if it is for your own use only. On the other hand, it takes only a few
moments to apply some simple formatting, and, once applied, the formatting will
remain in place without further effort on your part.
In Chapter 6, I show how easy it is to apply formatting to a table. The information
in this chapter applies to normal ranges. I show you how to work with the
Excel formatting tools: fonts, colors, and styles, such as bold and italic. I also
cover custom styles that you can create to make formatting large amounts of
material in a similar way easier.
Getting to Know the Formatting Tools
Figure 7.1 shows how even simple formatting can significantly improve a worksheet’s
readability.
ON the CD-ROM
This workbook is available on the companion CD-ROM. The
file is named loan payments.xlsx.
IN THIS CHAPTER
Understanding how formatting
can improve your worksheets
Getting to know the formatting
tools
Using formatting in your
worksheets
Using named styles for easier
formatting
Understanding document
themes
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