Excel Custom Number Formatting Basics

Most of us at some point have tried to find a particular number format in Microsoft Excel , but we weren’t able to find one that satisfies our needs.

We will have  other blogs to follow, which will cover date and time, and positive and
negative numbers, but for now we’re just going to cover the easiest, fastest ways to customize a number format.

How-To

In order to create a custom number format, you’ll need to access the Format Cells window. Once there, choose the “Custom” option from the left hand side. Under the word “Type” you’ll be typing in your custom number format.

 How to Type the Format

There’s a few guidelines to designing your number format.

Character Placeholders

#           Digit placeholder

This is used to show where numbers should go. If that placeholder would be 0, it will not display anything. This is used most often to show where to display other characters, like commas, to show where they should go.

Ex)         12345                    +             #,###                    =                             12,345

0           Digit placeholder

This, unlike the # will display a 0 if there wouldn’t be a value in that placeholder.

Ex)         12345                    +             000,000 =                             012,345

 ,             Thousands Separator

This is usually used to separate hundreds from thousands. But if you were trying to format like Europeans do, you’d use this in the place of a decimal.

Ex)         12345                    +             #,###                    =                             12,345

/             Fractions

This is used to display portions of a whole as fractions instead of decimal placeholders.

Ex)         12.345                   +             # #/#                     =                             12 1/3

“Text” Text display character

Using the quotes will make certain text display where you’d like it to.

Ex)         12345                    +             # “Total”              =                             12345 Total

Meaning Characters

The following are characters that can be used to define the meaning of your numbers.

$    + –    ( )    :    ^    ‘    { }    < >    =    /    !    &    ~

Ex)         12345                    +             $#                           =                             $12345

Functional Characters

*            Character Iterator

This will make the following character repeat until it fills up the cell. You’ll notice that the “Accounting” format always shows the dollar sign at the left hand side of the cell, you could make that happen by using the * followed by a space.

Ex)         12345                    +             $*-#                       =                             $————-12345

_            Space Provider

This will inject the amount of space taken up by the next character. This is used in the case of custom negative formatting, so that if there’s a closing parenthesis in a negative number, when the positive number is presented the number still visually lines up with the negative numbers.

%          Percent Calculator

This will perform the math for us, so that the number typed in will show up appropriately.

Ex)         .12345                   +             %#                          =                             %12