In other Microsoft Office programs, such as Word, most formatting is involved with the way that the letters or paragraphs look. You can do this in Excel.

Excel's formatting can also change the way that your data functions. To modify the look or the properties of your data:

• Select cell(s) to format.
• Toolbar >> Format >> Cells

There are five tabs in the Format Cells Dialog Box:

• Number
• Alignment
• Font
• Border
• Patterns
• Protection

The Default tab is the Number Format. The formats listed in the Category box can format or limit the properties of your data.

When you select a Format, the format description will appear in the adjacent window.

Options include: the number of decimal places, whether or not the thousands separator is used, and the format to be used for negative numbers.

Options include: the number of decimal places, and the symbol used for the currency. This format lines up the currency symbols and decimal points in a column of data.

The only option is the number of decimal places.

By default, Excel left-aligns labels and right-aligns values

You can also change the formatting by using the button in the toolbar.

For either method, select the cell(s) you want to align and click the appropriate alignment button on the toolbar.

Text Control is an important option for legibility :

Wrap text - Allows long lines of text to wrap within a single cell. You may need to adjust the cell height for the wrapped rows to be visible.

Shrink-to-fit - Shrinks the size of the text so that it fits in the cell.

Merge Cells - Allows two (or more) adjacent cells to be merged into one (larger) cell.

Select formatting in:

• Font
• Style
• Size
• Color
• Effects

You can see a preview of your changes in the preview box.

Allows you to specify the Border properties on selected cells.

You can also add or change the Borders by using the button in the toolbar.

For either method, select the cell(s) you want to align and click the appropriate alignment button on the toolbar.

This tab allows you to select background colors for the selected cells.

Cell Shading Colors provide a background color in the selected cells.

Pattern puts a pattern on top of the selected background color. Pattern is black by default, but you can select a color for the pattern from the same drop-down box.

**In selecting colors and patterns - consider legibility and readability**
Startling color combinations may be amusing to create, but they can be annoying to the viewer.

Protecting a spreadsheet or just a few cells is a two step process:

1- On the main toolbar, go to Tools >> Protection >> Protect Sheet.
You will be asked to provide a password (optional).
If you do provide a password, that password will be required to unprotect the worksheet.

2 - Every cell has two protection states: Locked and Hidden.
By default, all cells are locked on a protected worksheet (Step 1 above), but they are not hidden.

The Locked and Hidden attributes are in effect only when you have protected a worksheet (Step 1 above)when the worksheet is protected
To allow a particular cell to be changed when the worksheet is protected, you must unlock that cell by removing the checkmark from the Locked checkbox.