Is it possible in #Excel? Of course, as you have just seen it! 😁

Indeed, it’s easier than you may have thought about. We can do it by custom format.

First of all, select the cells that you want to apply custom format and then right click…

or simply press Ctrl+1 to open the Format Cells dialog box:

Copy the following string to the “Type:” of Custom Format (3 as shown above)

[Color10]😁* +0.0%;[Red]😭* -0.0%

Note: There is a space after the *, which is intentionally put there.

The *space portion is used to filling the gap between the emoji and the +/- sign using space that is responsive to the column width. Do not understand what I am talking about? 😅

No worries. Let’s watch it in action:

When the following string (without *space) is used:

[Color10]😁+0.0%;[Red]😭-0.0%

When the following string (with *space) is used:

[Color10]😁* +0.0%;[Red]😭* -0.0%

See the difference?

That’s cool 😎to add emojis to your spreadsheets… only when you are working with a company / team that thinks it is cool. Otherwise, it’s better to use something boring professional:

Here are custom format strings for your reference:

[Green]▲* 0.0%;[Red]▼* 0.0% 

[Green]↑* 0.0%;[Red]↓* 0.0%

[Green]+* 0.0%;[Red]-* 0.0%

Feel free to change the symbols for ups and downs.

Wait… how can I insert those symbols ▲▼↑↓ ?

Take a look at this blogpost: Input special characters in Excel by pressing Alt + Numpad

How about the emojis?

Press the Window and Dot keys together 🙌 (applicable to Win 10)

Want more about custom format?

Take a look at this blogpost: Display descriptive words instead of numbers with Custom Format in #Excel

Do you have out-of-the-box usage of custom formats? Please share with us by leaving comments below. 😉