In Excel, the whole entered data in the sheet uses the same formatting by default which can make the data look monotonous, dull, and difficult to read. Excel provides a pool of tools called formatting tools which customize the data in such a way that it only affects the appearance of the data and not the content.
How to apply formatting in Excel?
Following are the steps to apply the formatting:
- Select the range of cells on which formatting needs to be done.
- Select the suitable formatting tool from the toolbox(ribbon).
- Formatting can be observed on the sheet.
Formatting tools that work on the text and cell appearance can be found in Home Tab [ Font Group ] in the ribbon.
Let’s discuss some formatting tools in this article.
- Font: It changes the writing style of the data.
- Font Size: It changes the size of the data, can make it appear big or short.
- Increase/Decrease Font Size: It does the same work as by Font Size i.e adjusts the size of the font accordingly. However, it gets handy as in only one click, the size is getting changed.
- Bold and Italic: Bold thickens the letter and makes it appear darker than before while Italic, italicize the letters. Both are useful when some data needs to be differentiated from the rest.
- Underline: This feature marks a line at the foot of the data.
There is a drop-down button on the right of the underline tool, which has two options: Underline and Double Underline. Underline is the same as the Underline tool and Double Underline marks two lines below the text selected.
- Top and Double Bottom Border: This feature creates the border as per selection from the drop-down button around the selected cells. This is majorly used to differentiate some cells from the drop-down and create tables in large sheets.
The drop-down in the right of the tool has many options in which we can create the borders around the cells.
- Fill Colour: As the name suggests, it fills the colour in the cell making it distinct from the rest. Excel offers a pool of colours from which the choice can be made.
- Font Colour: It changes the colour of the font and makes it appear better. Correct colour choices can be made from a plethora of options available.
The differences can be observed between using the formatting tools and by default:
Cell B4 is formatted. It has a different font style, size, double underline, Bold and Italic font, different colours, and a thick box border around it whereas cell B7 has default settings.
More formatting tools are available in Excel that can be explored.