More Formatting Features

Let’s look at some more formatting features in Excel:

Wrap Text

We earlier learned how to adjust the column width to fit the text in a cell. This is alright for data such as headers. But how can you display the text in a cell without stretching the column?

The answer is to use the Wrap Text feature in Excel. With Wrap Text, you can prevent the text within a cell from extending beyond the cell’s boundary while still being able to display the entire text.

To wrap text in a cell

1. Click Format > Cells

2. Click on the Alignment tab

3. Click on the Wrap Text check box. You can also choose a different text orientation from these.

4. Click OK

Number Formats

In Microsoft Excel, you can use number formats to change the appearance of numbers, including dates and times, without changing the number behind the appearance. The number format you apply does not affect the actual cell value.

Sean Riley plans to include a column that will display the percentage value of the total marks. What he needs to do is format the numbers so they will be displayed in the percentage style.

This is how it is done.

1. Select the cell J2 and type the number 100.

2. With the cell selected, click Format > Cells on the menu bar.

A dialog box appears.

3. Click on the Number tab

4. Under Category, select Percentage.

5. Under Decimal Places, choose 0.

6. Click OK.

7. The number 100 will change to 100%.

The Number Format feature is very useful when you want to display numeric data as currency, date, time, fraction, with a predefined number of decimal places, as postal codes, or even as telephone numbers!

Changing the Orientation

1. Click the worksheet.

2. On the File menu, click Page Setup, and then click the Page tab.

3. Under Orientation, click Portrait or Landscape.

4. Click Print.