Microsoft Excel XP Tutorial

Section Learning Goals In this section, you will learn: Formatting worksheets Using styles Modifying styles Creating a new style Copying styles from other workbooks Using autoformats

Formatting Worksheets

Using Styles

Styles are collections of formatting choices that you can apply to the data in your cells, or to entire cells, ranges, or worksheets. Later, you can quickly change the formatting of all the cells that use a particular style, simply by changing the formatting of the style.

Microsoft Excel includes built-in styles to format numbers as currency, percentages, and whole numbers with commas. You can modify these styles to suit the needs of your worksheets, or you can create your own custom styles.

Applying a Style

The common number styles can be applied using the buttons on the Formatting toolbar:

• Click to apply the currency style.

• Click to apply the percent style.

• Click to apply the comma style.

Additional options are available from the Style dialog:

1. With the cell(s) selected, select Style from the Format menu.

The Style dialog opens.

1. Select a style from the Style name drop-down menu. The features of the style appear below, under Style includes.
2. Click OK.

Modifying an Existing Style

To modify an existing style:

1. From the Format menu, select Style.

The Style dialog opens.

1. Select the style you want to modify from the Style name drop-down menu.
2. Click the Modify button.

The Format Cells dialog opens.

1. Use the options on the various tabs to select the formatting you want the style to use.
2. Click OK to close the Format Cells dialog.
3. If necessary, check (select) or uncheck any formatting options under Style includes.
4. Click Add.
5. To apply the style to the selected cell(s), click OK. Otherwise, click Close to close the Style dialog.

Creating a New Style

To create a new style:

1. From the Format menu, select Style.

The Style dialog opens.

1. Enter a name for the new style into the Style name field.

1. Click the Modify button.

The Format Cells dialog opens.

1. Use the options on the various tabs to select the formatting you want the style to use, and then click OK.
2. Check (select) or uncheck any formatting options under Style includes.

1. Click Add.
2. To apply the new style to the selected cell(s), click OK. Otherwise, click Close to close the Style dialog.

Copying Styles from Other Workbooks

Excel also lets you copy styles contained in other workbooks:

1. Open both workbooks-the one containing the styles you want to copy and the one you want to copy the styles into.
2. In the workbook that will receive the styles, select Style from the Format menu.

The Style dialog opens.

1. Click the Merge button.

The Merge Styles dialog opens.

1. Select the workbook that contains the styles you want to copy and click OK.
2. If both workbooks contain styles with the same names (for example, the default number styles), confirm that you want to replace the existing styles in the current workbook.

If you don’t want to replace the existing styles, click No when prompted. Only new styles will be added to the current workbook.