Microsoft Office

Part IV
Using Advanced Excel Features
Where Did Those Number Formats Come From?
Excel may create custom number formats without you realizing it. When you use the Increase Decimal or
Decrease Decimal button on the Home ➪ Number group of the Ribbon (or in the Mini toolbar), Excel creates
new custom number formats, which appear on the Number tab in the Format Cells dialog box. For example,
if you click the Increase Decimal button five times, the following custom number formats are created:
0.0
0.000
0.0000
0.000000
A format string for two decimal places is not created because that format string is built-in.
Custom Number Format Examples
The remainder of this chapter consists of useful examples of custom number formats. You can use most of
these format codes as-is. Others may require slight modification to meet your needs.
Scaling values
You can use a custom number format to scale a number. For example, if you work with very large numbers,
you may want to display the numbers in thousands (that is, display 1,200,000 as 1,200). The actual number,
of course, will be used in calculations that involve that cell. The formatting affects only how it is displayed.
Displaying values in thousands
The following format string displays values without the last three digits to the left of the decimal place and no
decimal places. In other words, the value appears as if it’s divided by 1,000 and rounded to no decimal places.
#,###,
A variation of this format string follows. A value with this number format appears as if it’s divided by 1,000
and rounded to two decimal places.
#,###.00,
Table 24.5 shows examples of these number formats:
TABLE 24.5
Examples of Displaying Values in Thousands
Value Number Format Display
123456 #,###, 123
1234565 #,###, 1,235
–323434 #,###, –323
472