Spreadsheets : Formatting

Information in spreadsheet cells can be formatted like text in a word processor. The font can be changed and information can be aligned to the left, right or centre of a cell. Titles can also be centered across multiple columns. Borders can be placed around cells to make distinct tables and cells can be filled with colour to make a spreadsheet clearer. Changing the appearance of the information in a cell like this is known as changing the cell format.

The appearance of numbers in cells (called the data format) can also be controlled. Example formats you may want to apply to a value in a cell are :

• Set the number of decimal places the value is displayed to.
• Display the value as a currency. E.g. display 2300.5 as £2300.50.
• Display the value as a percentage. E.g. display 0.876 as 88%.
• Display the value as a date.

You should also be able to change the width of columns and the height of rows to suit the data that has been typed in. If necessary extra rows or columns can be inserted into the spreadsheet and unwanted rows or columns can be deleted.

GCSE ICT Companion 04 - (C) P Meakin 2004