Spreadsheets (Formatting) Part 2

 

Formatting

A well-formatted spreadsheet is easy to read. Spreadsheet programs have plenty of formatting features.

Adjusting column width and row height

To adjust a column’s width or a row’s height, move your mouse cursor between two columns or rows. Click and drag to resize.

To automatically resize a row to fit the data entered in a cell, double-click between the current row and the row after it.

Cell formatting

To access a cell’s formatting options, right-click on the cell and click 'Formatting options'. A dialogue box with the following tabs will appear:

• number – tell the spreadsheet what type of data the cell contains, eg currency, percentage, date, time, etc
• alignment – align the text in the cell vertically (top, bottom or middle), horizontally (left or right) or at an angle
• font – change the font used, text size and colour
• border – add a solid, dotted, dashed or coloured border to the cell
• fill – choose what colour or pattern the cell is filled with

The name of these tabs may differ slightly between spreadsheet programs.

Wrap text

If the text in a cell exceeds the space available, wrap text will resize the cell so it fits.

Merge cells

It is also possible to join two or more cells together to make one single cell.