Introduction
In this lesson you will learn how to change the format of cells to display as a form of money or currency.
Please note that this lesson portrays the behavior of Excel in the United States. In a different region of the world, Excel will automatically default to the regional currency. Students are welcome to change the regional settings of their computers to match the instruction in this lesson, but they are not required to do so.
This video illustrates the lesson material below. Watching the video is optional.
Changing to a Currency Format
When you type numbers in Excel, they are usually general numbers. There are situations when you may want those numbers to clearly represent currency instead. There are three ways to change the format of an Excel cell to display as currency:
- The Number Format drop-down menu
- The Accounting Number Format button
- The Format Cells window
Number Format Drop-Down Menu
The Number Format drop-down menu is found on the Home tab. It looks like this:
Figure 1
If you would like to change a cell in your document to be a currency cell, you can simply select the cell you would like to change, open the Number Format drop-down menu, and select either the Currency or Accounting options.
Figure 2
These two options will display slightly differently in Excel, as shown below. However, both the Currency and Accounting options will add a dollar sign ($) and a decimal point (.) to the number in the selected cell.
Figure 3
Accounting Number Format Button
The Accounting Number Format button is also found on the Home tab. The symbol for the button is a dollar sign ($).
Figure 4
If you want to change a cell to have accounting formatting, you simply select the cell or cells you want to change, then select the Accounting Number Format button. This change will update the cell format, and it will also display in the Number Format drop-down window.
Figure 5
Format Cells Window
The third way to change the display is to use the Format Cells window.
Begin by right-clicking on the cell you want to format. Then, select Number Format from the drop-down menu.
Figure 6
Select either Currency or Accounting to display the numbers as currency.
Figure 7
Some additional benefits come from using the Format Cells window, including the options to adjust the decimal places listed in our cells, adjust the symbol of the currency, and the ability to incorporate negative numbers.Adjusting Currency Symbols
The default currency symbol is the dollar ($), but you can use the Format Cell window to change it. The drop-down menu at the right-hand of the Symbol section provides a wide selection of different currencies.
Figure 8
Formatting Several Cells at Once
You can format several cells at a time by selecting all the cells you want to adjust and using one of the techniques listed above to change the format.
There are two options for selecting multiple cells:
- Option 1: Select one cell, and then drag the cursor down or over to select a range of cells.
- Option 2: Select one cell, press and hold down the Shift key, and then select a second cell. This option will highlight all the cells between the two selected cells.
The image below is the result of using the second option to select multiple cells. The two cells selected were cell A1 and cell A4.
Figure 9
Things to Remember
- Use the Number Format drop-down menu, the Accounting Number Format button, or the Format Cells window for a cell to display numbers as currency.
- As needed, adjust the currency symbol by using the drop down menu in the Currency or Accounting sections of the Format Cells window.
- Cell formatting doesn’t need to be a slow process; you can format multiple cells at one time.
Need More Help?
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