Change the format of a cell

You can apply formatting to cells and to the data inside those cells. One way to think of this is the cells are the frame of a picture and the picture inside the frame is the data. Formatting the cells, or the frame, might include adding borders, filling the cells with color or shading, or changing the size and style of the cell.

Tip:  Check out links to formatting text, numbers, dates, and data at the end of this topic.

Excel has a bunch of predefined cell styles that you can use. These styles let you make several formatting changes to cells at once. For example, you can add a fill color and change the color of text at the same time.

1. Select the cells you want to format.

2. Click Home > Cell Styles, and then pick the style you want.

If you don't like any of the predefined styles, or want to apply a specific type of formatting, such as a specific color to your cells, you can do that by right-clicking the cells you want to format, and choosing from the formatting options. For example, to add borders and a fill color, do the following:

1. Select the cells you want to format, and right-click.

2. To add borders to your cells, click the down arrow next to the Border button, and pick the borders you want.

1. To fill your cells with color, click the down arrow next to the Fill Color button, and pick the fill color you want.

Want help formatting the data inside your cells? Check out these topics:

• Format text in cells

• Format numbers

• Format a date the way you want