Percentages in Excel

Introduction

In this lesson, you will learn four ways to format a cell as a percentage and two ways to format several cells at once.

This video illustrates the lesson material below. Watching the video is optional.

Percentages in Excel (05:19 mins) | Transcript

Formatting a Cell as a Percentage in Excel

There are many ways to format a cell as a percentage in Excel, but this lesson focuses on the following methods:

Type the percent symbol (%)
Use the Format Cell window
Use the Number Format menu
Select the Percent Style button

The Percent Symbol

This is perhaps the simplest method of formatting a cell as a percentage.

Type a number into an Excel cell.
After the number, type the percent symbol (%).
Press Enter.

The percent symbol tells Excel that the typed number is a percentage, and it automatically updates the formatting to Percentage. As with any of these methods, once a cell has Percentage formatting, any number entered into the cell will display as a percent.

The Format Cells Window

Follow the steps below to use the Format Cells window formatting option:

Right-click the desired cell.
Select Format Cells from the menu that appears. This will open the Format Cells window.

The image shows a dropdown menu that will open when you right click a cell. The Format Cells option is being emphasized in the image.

Figure 1

Select the Number option, then select Percentage from the category dropdown menu.
Note: You can change the number of decimal places displayed by adjusting the Decimal places box in the Format Cells window regardless of how you originally formatted the cell as a percentage.

The image shows three steps. First, the number category box is highlighted, indicating that it should be selected. Second, the Percentage option is highlighted from the dropdown menu, indicating that it should be selected. Third, the decimal places box is highlighted, indicating that this is where you can change how many decimals are shown in the cell.

Figure 2

The Number Format Menu

In the Home toolbar, there is a Number Format menu box. The default setting is General.

The Number Format menu box is highlighted on the Home toolbar. The default selection is General.

Figure 3

To update the setting to Percentage, follow the steps below:

Select the drop-down arrow on the Number Format menu.
Select Percentage.

The image shows two steps. First, the dropdown arrow on the Number Format box on the Home toolbar is highlighted, indicating that this should be selected to open the dropdown. Second, the Percentage option is highlighted, indicating this should be selected.

Figure 4

When using this option, the number within the cell may change to be a very large percentage. For example, 55 would turn into 5500% when the cell format changed! If you wanted to show something as 55% instead, you would need to type in your original number as a decimal. In this example, you would type in 0.55 instead of 55. This option will automatically format the cell with two decimal places. These can be adjusted using the technique explained in the Format Cells Window section.

The Percent Style Button

The Percent Style button provides another very direct option for updating the formatting.

Select the desired cell.
Select the Percent Style button. It has the percent symbol (%) on it.

The Percent Style button is highlighted on the home toolbar.

Figure 5

This button causes the cell to display numbers as a percentage.

Formatting Several Cells at Once

You can format several cells at a time by selecting or highlighting all the cells you want to adjust and then using one of the techniques listed above to change the format. For percentages, the fastest technique is using the Percent Style button (refer to Figures 6-8).

Cells I7-10 are highlighted and these cells hold the following values: 0.23, 0.18, 0.05, 1.09.

Figure 6

The Percent Style button is highlighted on the home toolbar.

Figure 7

Cells I7 through I10 are selected (which contain the values: 23.00%, 18.00%, 5.00%, and 109.00%). The Number Format box is highlighted and shows that Percentage is selected.

Figure 8

Things to Remember

Once a cell has Percentage formatting, any number entered into the cell will display as a percentage.
The decimal places box in the Format Cells window will change the decimal places for any percentage cell regardless of how it was originally formatted.

Need More Help?

Study other Math Lessons in the Resource Center.
Visit the Online Tutoring Resources in the Resource Center.
Contact your Instructor.
If you still need help, Schedule a Tutor.