Lorenzo Ruiz de Manila School

Phase 1 Vista Verde Executive Village Cainta, Rizal

Computer I (First Trimester)

Module #8
Understanding Cell Formatting

Objectives
At the end of this lesson, the students are expected to:
• understand the importance of formatting cells;
• value the different formats of cells ; and
• create a workbook and format several cell with number, date, text
and currency.

Introduction
Formatting cells affects the appearance of the cell depending on what
style/format is used. It is categorized into different cell elements.
In this lesson, you will be guided to answer the following:
• What are the different elements in formatting cells;
• How do you format cells; and
• What is number formatting;

Cell Formatting
Cell formatting contains six elements and each of these elements
highly affects the appearance of the cell on the worksheet. The following are
the six elements in cell formatting:
1. Number
2. Alignment
3. Font
4. Border
5. Fill
6. Protection

I. Number Formatting
On the Format Cells dialog box click an option in the Category box, and
then select the options that you want to specify a number format. The
Sample box shows how the selected cells will look with the formatting that
you choose. Click Custom if you want to create your own custom formats for
numbers, such as product codes.

CATEGORY DESCRIPTION EXAMPLE

GENERAL The cell has no specific number format. 12345
 Number has no commas, symbols, and Hello World
displays the number of decimal places
you entered.
NUMBER Used for general display of numbers. You 25,000
can choose the number of decimal -12.50
places, check Use 1000 separator (,) and (100.75)
choose whether you want Negative
numbers in red or with parenthesis.
CURRENCY Used for general monetary values. $100
€250
ACCOUNTIN The lines up currency symbols and Php 1,000.75
G decimal places in a column. ¥4,578.80
DATE You can choose different types of date 9/11/89
formatting with numbers (1 – 12) or the 04-Oct-91
name of month, with slashes or dashes 14 June 1994
separating month, day and year including
the time.
Short date – displays the date in number
format
Long date – displays the date written out
with the day of the week, month, date
and year.
TIME It displays the time in the selected 14:30
format. You can choose different types of 17:30:49
time format with option of showing
seconds, AM, PM or 12-hour clock include
date.
PERCENTAG It multiplies the cell value by 100 and 100%
E displays with a percent symbol 12%
FRACTION The cell displays as fraction with rounding ½
to halves, quarters, eights, sixteenths or ¼
tenths.
SCIENTIFIC The cell displays in scientific notation 125E + 2
125E – 2
TEXT It sets the cell into a text format (label). =SUM(A1:A5)
=AVERAGE(A1,A
5)
SPECIAL It displays special formats for Zip Code, 1800
Phone Number or Social Security Number 523-62-44
CUSTOM You can create your own number format 7, 334,008
or you can choose in the Type list.

a. Sample - displays the number in the active cell on the worksheet in

the number format that you select.
 b. Decimal places - specifies up to 30 decimal places. This box is
available only for the Number, Currency, Accounting, Percentage, and
Scientific categories.
c. Negative numbers - specifies the format in which you want negative
numbers to be displayed. This option is available only for the Number
and Currency categories.
d. Symbol - selects the currency symbol that you want to use. This box is
available only for the Currency and Accounting categories.
e. Type - selects the display type that you want to use for a number. This
list box is available only for the Date, Time, Fraction, Special, and
Custom categories.
f. Locale (location) - selects a different language that you want to use
for the display type of a number. This option is available only for the
Date, Time, and Special categories.

II. Alignment
a. Text alignment
i. Horizontal - selects an option in the Horizontal list box to
change the horizontal alignment of cell contents. By default, MS
Excel aligns text to the left, numbers to the right and logical and
error values are centered. The default horizontal alignment is
General. Changing the alignment of data does not change the
data type.
ii. Vertical - selects an option in the Vertical box to change the
vertical alignment of cell contents. By default, Excel aligns text
vertically on the bottom of a cell. The default horizontal
alignment is General.
b. Indent - indents cell contents from any edge of the cell, depending on
your choice under Horizontal and Vertical. Each increment in the
Indent box is equivalent to the width of one character.
c. Orientation - selects an option under Orientation to change the
orientation of text in selected cells. Rotation options may not be
available if other alignment options are selected.
d. Degrees - Sets the amount of text rotation in the selected cell. Use a
positive number in the Degree box to rotate the selected text from
lower left to upper right in the cell. Use negative degrees to rotate text
from upper left to lower right in the selected cell.

e. Text control
i. Wrap text - wraps text into multiple lines in a cell. The number
of wrapped lines is dependent on the width of the column and
the length of the cell contents.
ii. Shrink to fit - reduces the apparent size of font characters so
that all data in a selected cell fits within the column. The
character size is adjusted automatically if you change the
column width. The applied font size is not changed.
 f. Merge cells - combines two or more
selected cells into a single cell. The cell
reference for a merged cell is the upper-
left cell in the original selected range.
g. Text direction - selects an option in
the Text direction box to specify reading
order and alignment. The default setting
is Context, but you can change it to
Left-to-Right or Right-to-Left.
Format Cells Dialog
Box

III. Font
a. Font - selects the font type for the text in selected cells. The default
font is Calibri.
b. Font style - selects the font style for the text in selected cells. The
default font style is Regular.
c. Font Size - selects the font size for the text in selected cells. You can
type any number between 1 and 1638. The default font size is 11.

Note: The sizes in the Size list depend on the selected font and active
printer.

d. Underline - Selects the type of underlining that you want to use for
text in selected cells. The default underline is None.
e. Font Color - Selects the color that you want to use for selected cells
or text. The default color is Automatic.
f. Effects - allows you to select one of the following formatting effects.
i. Strikethrough - selects this check box to display the text in
selected cells as strikethrough.
ii. Superscript - selects this check box to display the text selected
cells or text as superscript.
iii. Subscript - selects this check box to display the text in selected
cells as subscript.
g. Preview - displays a sample of text that is displayed with the
formatting options that you select.

IV. Border
a. Line - selects an option under Style to specify the line size and style
for a border. If you want to change a line style on a border that already
exists, select the line style option that you want, and then click the
area of the border in the Border model where you want the new line
style to appear.
 b. Presets - selects a predefined border option to apply borders to or
remove borders from selected cells.
c. Border Color - selects a color from the list to change the color of the
selected cells.

V. Fill
a. Background Color - selects a background color for selected cells by
using the color palette.
b. Fill Effects - selects this button to apply gradient, texture, and picture
fills to selected cells.
c. More Colors - selects this button to add colors that are not available
on the color palette.
d. Pattern Color - selects a foreground color in the Pattern Color box to
create a pattern that uses two colors.
e. Pattern Style - selects a pattern in the Pattern Style box to format
selected cells in a pattern that uses the colors that you select in the
Background Color and Pattern Color boxes.
f. Sample - displays a sample of the color, fill effects, and pattern
options that you select.
VI. Protection
a. Locked - prevents selected cells from being changed, moved, resized,
or deleted. Locking cells has no effect unless the sheet is protected.
b. Hidden - hides a formula in a cell so that it doesn't appear in the
formula bar when the cell is selected. If you select this option, it has no
effect unless the sheet is protected.

Activity
Direction: Follow the instructions below
1. Input data on the following cells
A1 = 120000
A2 = 25000
A3 = October 4, 2010
A4 = 12:15
A5 = 20
A6 = Microsoft Office Excel 2010
2. Change the cell format according to the following
a. Number
b. Alignment
c. Font
d. Border
e. Fill (change the fill color of several cells)
f. Protection (lock / hide several cells)
3. Your output will be most likely the picture below and it will be graded
using the rubric
 Rubric in Cell Formatting
Criteria 5 4 3 2 1
Correct use of cell format
elements
Appropriate use of data on
cells
Finish the activity at the right
time
Behavior in working on the
activity
Number of formatted cells (if
necessary)

Reference:
Microsoft Office Excel Help
Aguinaldo, etal. ICT Skills for Teachers
http://www.davis.k12.ut.us/district/etc/documents/excel_beg_doc.html