Category Archives: Format

Do Not input “-” for zero. Use proper formatting in #Excel

Posted on December 5, 2021 by MF

Do you input a hyphen to represent zero? If you do, please stop doing so in the future. The proper way of displaying “-” for zero is to apply relevant cell format to it. E.g. Using Accounting format with no … Continue reading →

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Add emoji to your numbers 😁 in #Excel

Posted on January 9, 2021 by MF

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 … Continue reading →

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Posted in Excel Tips, Format | Tagged | 2 Comments

Highlight weekends and holidays using Conditional Formatting in #Excel

Posted on January 6, 2019 by MF

In this post, I will show you step by step how to set up conditional formatting to highlight weekends and public holidays with Excel. The key is to set the formula right. Having a proper layout will make the whole thing more easier, which will be discussed in the next post. Continue reading →

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Display descriptive words instead of numbers with Custom Format in #Excel

Posted on June 14, 2018 by MF

Sometimes we want to add a descriptive like “Good Job” for figures above target; “Work Harder” for those below… like the following screenshot: To many people, the top-of-mind solution should be using IF function. =IF(A2>0, “Good Job”, IF(A2=0, “Just Met”,”Work … Continue reading →

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Hide and Seek – Cell Content

Posted on March 22, 2018 by MF

Don’t be shy!  Let silly things continue!  Let’s Hide and Seek with #Excel again! 🙂 Case 1 Case 2 Case 3 You may download a Sample File – Hide and Seek Cell Content for the above cases. If you know the … Continue reading →

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Hide and Seek – Cell border

Posted on March 8, 2018 by MF

Making cell border in #Excel should be something really basic.  However, some people may have found it frustrating/confusing to play Hide and Seek with borders just hoping that they will be displayed in the way they want it. For example, … Continue reading →

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Display single letter Day of week in Excel

Posted on May 21, 2016 by MF

Is it achievable?  Not by formatting but formula.

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Remove gridline

Posted on July 26, 2014 by MF

By default, gridline is not printed on paper.  Nevertheless, I would usually remove gridline when I submit my report, or paste part of a spreadsheet into PowerPoint or Word.  Why? Simply for better look and feel. See the screenshots below to … Continue reading →

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Text Alignment – Distributed

Posted on July 5, 2014 by MF

Let’s continue the topic of uncommonly used text alignment.  This time, it’s Distributed. Honestly, another format rarely used in my work life.  So what is it about?

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Text Alignment – Fill

Posted on June 7, 2014 by MF

We talked about examples of using “Text Alignment – Indent” in the previous post.  In the coming posts, let’s talk about the rest of the less commonly-used text alignments.  Actually, I find it a bit challenging to cite real-life examples … Continue reading →

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Text Alignment – Indent

Posted on June 1, 2014 by MF

There are different types of (horizontal) text alignment in Excel.  Most people know about (and use mainly) General, Right, Center, Left.  But are you aware of Indent, Fill, Justify, Centre Across Section and Distributed? Let’s talk about Indent this week. … Continue reading →

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Format part of a formula result… A workaround (non-VBA) solution

Posted on May 1, 2014 by MF

How to format part of a formula result? In a normal text string, we may format part of the text to highlight a specific information.  For example, if we input the text string “Today is Thursday, 01/05/2014” in A1, we … Continue reading →

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Posted in Excel Tips, Format | Tagged , | 6 Comments

Paint the Lily

Posted on March 15, 2014 by MF

Well, this is not an Excel post.  This is something about Visual Presentation at a glance, so I think it’s sort of related to Excel.  🙂 One day, I visited a Japanese Fast Food Restaurant and saw the above sticker … Continue reading →

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Posted in Format, General | Tagged | 1 Comment

Time Conversion – How to convert 24hr input as 4-digit number into TIME in Excel?

Posted on January 25, 2014 by MF

How to convert something like 1200 into 12:00? For easy sake of input, we often input 24-hr time as four digit number like 930 for 9:30, 1815 for 18:15 etc.  However, if time is input in this way in Excel, … Continue reading →

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Use Format Painter to decorate your spreadsheet

Posted on December 22, 2013 by MF

Christmas is all around.  Perhaps you are busy with decorating your Christmas tree with lots of joy. However it’s no joy to decorate your Excel worksheets in your daily work.  It could be really time-consuming to apply the same set … Continue reading →

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