MS-Excel Notes

Topics covered
Formatting Cells in Excel
Conditional formatting

1. Formatting Cells in Excel

In Microsoft Excel , all cell content uses the same formatting by default, which can make it difficult to read
a workbook with a lot of information. Basic formatting can customize the look and feel of your workbook,
allowing you to draw attention to specific sections and making your content easier to view and understand.
You can also apply number formatting to tell Excel exactly what type of data youre using in the
workbook, such as percentages (%), currency ($), and so on.
There are six tabs in the Format Cells dialog box: Number, Alignment, Font, Border, Patterns,
and Protection. The following sections describe the steps in detail.

A. Number formatting

The first tab is Number and contains categories for the type of data that is in the cell. The default category
is General. Other categories are number, currency, accounting, date, time, percentage, fraction,
scientific, text, special, and custom.
When we format cells in Excel, we change the appearance of a number without changing the number itself.
We can apply a number format (0.8, $0.80, 80%, etc) on cell.
Steps:
1. Enter the value 0.8 into cell B2.
2. Select cell B2.
3. Right click, and then click Format Cells (or press CTRL + 1).
The 'Format Cells' dialog box appears.
4. For example, select Currency.

Note: Excel gives you a life preview of how the number will be formatted (under Sample).
5. Click OK.
Result:

Cell B2 still contains the number 0.8. We only changed the appearance of this number. The most frequently
used formatting commands are available on the Home tab.

B. Alignment Formatting Options

The second tab is Alignment. There are three "Text Control" options on this tab that are especially useful
when formatting a spreadsheet with titles, subtitles, and column headings. They are "Wrap text" and
"Merge Cells." The option, "Shrink to fit" will take the cell value and make the font small enough to be
completely displayed.

. This option includes left, center, right, justify, indent, and more. Text direction (left to right, or right to
left) is available, and on this tab you can select text orientation to a single degree.
Select Cells->Right click and then select Format CellsOn the Alignment tab, select text to be left indent .

Result:

B. Font Formatting
The third tab is Font and the usual options that one sees in most Microsoft Office products are available:
font name, font style (regular, italic, bold), color, size, underline style (single, double, etc.), and the
special effects of strike-through, superscript, and subscript
Select cells ,right click and then select Format Cells
On the Font tab, make text italic and change the font color to blue.
Result:

D. Creating Borders on Worksheet Cells or Group of Cells

The fourth tab is Border. The Border tab provides a variety of border styles, and any color may be selected
for a border. A border style and border color can be set for each side of an individual cell or a group of cells.

One can select a border on one or more sides, and if a cell range was selected, one can choose an inside
border, outline border, or both. Diagonal borders are also an option.

Steps:

Right click cells then select Format Cells

Then in border tab,select the border style and color first;

select the side or sides of the cell to receive the border by clicking on one or more sides of the box.

Result:

E. Patterns or Fill
The fifth tab is called Patterns or Fill - depending on the version of Excel. The background of a single cell
or range of cells can be filled with any imaginable color, and a variety of pattern styles are available,
such horizontal, vertical, or diagonal stripes, dots, and crosshatches of different widths and percentages
of gray.

Steps:

Right click cells then select Format Cells

Then in Fill tab, select the pattern and pattern color or select only fill color to fill cell;
Result:

F. Protecting Cells
To make cells of sheet uneditable so that no body can change the content. This is known as protection
of cells .This can be done by locking cells and then protecting worksheet. Locking cells alone can not
protect sheet.

Locking Cells
The option to lock or unlock a cell in Excel is on the last tab of the Format Options window -
the Protection tab
All cells are locked by default as locked is checked by default as shown above.

To unlock cells

Then right-click, select "Format cells..." and on the Protection tab, click in the box to remove the check-
mark by "Locked." Then click OK. The Protection tab is shown below.

The next step is to protect locked cells which can be done by protecting sheet.

Protecting a Worksheet
As mentioned above, cell locking doesn't go into effect until the worksheet is protected.

To protect a worksheet
- click the Review tab,
- click Protect Worksheet (or Protect Sheet),
- and click OK.
- You have to enter a password before clicking OK.

- If the worksheet is already protected, the icon in the Review tab is "Unprotect Worksheet" (or
"Sheet").

2. Conditional Formatting
With conditional formatting, you can select one or more cells, and create rules (conditions) for when and
how those cells are formatted. The conditions can be, based on the selected cell's contents, or based on the
contents of another cell.
You can control the following formats:

Number format
Font, font style, and font colour (but not font size)
Fill colour and fill pattern
Border colour and border style (but not border thickness)

If the rules (conditions) that you specified are met, then the formatting is applied.
For example, you can set conditional formatting so that a cell turns red if its value is low, and turns green if
its value is high.
Question is in above table
a) conditionally format cells with green which have value higher than 75
b) conditionally format cells with red which have value lesser than 50
c) conditionally format cells which blue have value between 60 to 75

Apply Conditional Formatting to a Cell

In this example, you'll set conditional formats so that a cell:
Follow these steps to apply conditional formatting to cells:

1. In cell I1, type the high value -- 75

2. In cell I2, type the low value -- 50

3. Select the cells to be formatted. In this example, cells E2:E7 are selected.
4. On the Ribbon's Home tab, click Conditional Formatting

5. To format the high values, click Highlight Cell Rules, then click Greater Than...
6. In the Greater Than window, delete the value that appears, and click on cell I1, where the High value
is entered.

7. Click the drop down list for formats, and click Custom Format.

8. In the Format Cells window, click the Fill tab, and click on the green fill colour that you want.
 9. Click OK to close the Format Cells window, and click OK to close the Greater Than window.

The cells with values greater than 75 are now coloured green.

Apply 2nd Conditional Format

To colour the low values in red fill, you can apply a second condtional formatting rule to the cells.

1. Select the cells to be formatted. In this example, cells E2:E7 are selected.
2. On the Ribbon's Home tab, click Conditional Formatting

3. To format the high values, click Highlight Cell Rules, then click Less Than...

4. In the Less Than window, delete the value that appears, and click on cell I2, where the Low value is
entered.
 5. Click the drop down list for formats, and click Custom Format.

6. In the Format Cells window, click the Fill tab, and click on the green fill colour that you want.

7. Click OK to close the Format Cells window, and click OK to close the Less Than window.

The cells with values greater than 75 are now coloured green, and cells less than 50 are red.
Conditional formatting using formula

You can create a formula-based conditional formatting rule in four easy steps:

1. Select the cells you want to format.

2. Create a conditional formatting rule, and select the Formula option

3. Enter a formula that returns TRUE or FALSE.

4. Set formatting options and save the rule.

The ISODD function only returns TRUE for odd numbers, triggering the rule: