Format & Arrange:
Cell Style Dialog

Step-by-Step: Cell Style Dialog

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What you will learn:

to create a cell style using the dialog to apply a cell style with a dialog  to check what style a cell has with the dialog

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Start with: trips10.xls(This is not a mistake!) (saved in previous lesson)

Open an existing workbook

1. With the Class disk in Drive A, select from the menu  File  and inspect the list of recently used files at the bottom.
    
2. Select  trips10.xls  from the list. This is not the most recent version you worked with. You left that last one with no formatting at all, so we are backing up a bit. [You did follow the directions, didn't you?]
    
3. If  trips10.xls  is not in the list , select from the menu  File   |   Open . The Open dialog appears. Type in the File name text box the path to your latest version of the trips spreadsheet -    a:\my docs\excel project3\trips10.xls    Click on Open to open it.
    
   Note: This spreadsheet does not have the changes you made in the previous lesson when you formatted part of a cell and when you used AutoFormat.

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Style: Create with Dialog

1. Select cell C4 =  # of people 
    
2. From the menu select  Format  |  Style… 

   The dialog shows the Normal cell style when you first open it instead of the current formatting settings for the cell.

   
   
3. In the Style name box, type  Label - white on green 

   

   The dialog changes to show (By Example) the characteristics of cell C4.

   
   
4. Click the OK button to add this new style to the list and to apply it at the same time to the selected cell.

   Clicking on the Add button will add the new name to the list of styles, but does not apply the style to the selected cell(s).

   If no cell already had the formatting you want, you could set all of the characteristics yourself here, the hard way. First type in a new name (or choose an existing style to change) and then click the Modify button to access the Format Cells dialog. All the settings you choose will be recorded under the current name in the Style name box. All of this is rather awkward. Using the Style box on the toolbar will be easier.

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Style: Apply with Dialog

1. Select range A4:E4
    
2. Select  Format  |  Style…  and drop the list and select the style Label- white on green.
    
3. Click on OK to apply the selected style to the selected cells. You won't see a change in the labels since they already had the same formatting that the style sets. But shortly, when you change the style's definition, the cells will be updated with the changes.

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Style: Check style

1. Select cell E4.
    
2. To see what style this cell has, from the menu select  Format  |  Style… 

   The dialog shows Label - white on green with all its characteristics.

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Style: Modify with Dialog

1. Double-click cell C4 and edit it to read  Number of People . This will make the text too wide for the column.
    
2. Click the green check mark on the Formatting bar to enter your change.
    
3. From the menu select  Format  |  Style... . The Style dialog should show the style you created:  Label - white on green .
    
4. Click the Modify button. The Format Cells dialog appears with all its tabs.
    
5. On the Alignment tab check the box for Wrap text and set the Vertical Alignment to Top.
    
6. Click on OK to close the Format Cells dialog and then on OK again to close the Style dialog. The style  Label - white on green  has been changed. All cells that use that style are updated, unless they have had manual formatting applied after receiving the cell style.

    
   

7. Prove that the cell style has changed by making column D or E narrower (drag the right edge of the column heading) until the text wraps. Then Undo your change.
    
8. Save as trips13.xls.
   How to handle a full disk.