Format & Arrange:
Partial Formatting, AutoFormat, & Clear

Title: Jan's Illustrated Computer Literacy 101
Did you want Working with Numbers: 2007,2010,2013,2016  or españolIcon: Change web

Sometimes you would like part of a cell to use different formatting from the rest of the cell. You must be in Edit mode to do this.

On the other hand, sometimes you would like to format all of your data or a large section of a sheet at once. AutoFormat offers a number of useful schemes to do just that.

Finally, there are times when you regret you ever started formatting. You want to start over with no formatting at all. Since Undo only remembers the last 16 actions, you need another way to clear all the formatting you applied. Excel provides several!


Where you are:
JegsWorks > Lessons > Numbers

Before you start...

Project 1: Excel IntroTo subtopics

Project 2: Excel BasicsTo subtopics   

Project 3: Format & Arrange
    Format Cells Open arrow to subtopics
    footprintApply Formatting
    footprintCopy Formatting
    footprintPartial, AutoFormat
    footprintStyle - Dialog
    footprintStyle - Style box
    Format ChartTo subtopics
    ArrangeTo subtopics
    Summary
    Quiz
    ExercisesTo subtopics

Project 4: Groups & FormulasTo subtopics

Project 5: DesignTo subtopics

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Glossary  
Appendix
Icon Step-by-Step 

Step-by-Step: Format Part of a Cell, AutoFormat, & Clear

  Icon Step-by-Step

What you will learn:

 to format only part of a cell's contents
to format with AutoFormat
to print a selection of a sheet 
to clear all formatting

Start with: Class disk trips10.xls (saved in previous lesson)

Format Cell: Part of cell's text

  1. Double-click cell A2 to get into Edit mode so you can edit it.
     
  2. Select the word Specials and click Button: Italics the Italics button.'Special' formatted different from 'Anniversary'
     
  3. While "Specials" is still selected, use the Formatting bar to change the Font color to Dark Red.
     
  4. Class disk Save as  trips11.xls  in the  excel project3  folder of your Class disk.

Format Cells: AutoFormat

  1. Drag to select the range A1:E25, which is the upper table on the sheet.

    Icon: Excel 97Excel 97: Watch what happens as you drag from A1 toward E25. The merged cells at the top affect the way Excel selects as you drag.
     

  2. On the menu select  Format  |  AutoFormat… 
     
  3. Icon: Excel 97Excel 97: Click on each Table format in the dialog's list to see its design features in the sample on the right of the dialog. 

    Dialog: AutoFormat

    Icon: Excel 2000 Icon: Excel 2002Icon: Excel 2003 Excel 2000/2002/2003: Scroll the list of table formats. Inspect each to see what features it includes.


      

  4. Select the layout named List 1 and click on OK to apply this layout to your sheet. 
     
  5. Class disk Save by clicking the  Save button. Your document overwrites the one on your floppy disk. [trips11.xls]

Print Selection

  1. Open  File  |  Page Setup  and select Portrait orientation and click OK to close the dialog.
     
  2. With Range A1:E25 still selected, select from the menu  File  |  Print...  and choose  Selection .
     
  3. Click the Preview button to check that all settings are working correctly.

    Preview: trips11.xls in portrait orientation

  4. Print Print.

Clear Formats

Here is a fast way to remove all the cell formats and get back to basics - Normal font, no borders, no fills, no merged cells. To return to a previous stage in your formatting, you can use Undo. But Undo only remembers 16 actions.

  1. Select the whole table by typing A1:E37 in the Name Box and pressing the ENTER key.
     
  2. From the menu select  Edit  |  Clear… |  Formats  . All formatting is removed from the selection. 

    tip Alternate method that preserves merges: AutoFormat - None,  Format | AutoFormat | None   Choosing the last format in the list - None, removes all the formatting. The merged cells will stay merged with this method.
     

  3. Preview: trips11-formats clearedView Page Break Preview and, if necessary, remove the page break at row 26. 
     

  4. Class disk Save as  trips12.xls  to the  excel project3  folder on your Class disk.
    full floppy diskHow to handle a full disk.

    Warning After saving, the Undo list is cleared. You can't undo anything you did before you saved.
     

  5. Print Print.
     
  6. Close the spreadsheet.