Excel has been the accounting software of choice for decades. No accountant worth their salt isn’t familiar with it. Microsoft introduced it in 1982 and it now has at least 750 million users.
Despite being around for as long as it has, Excel continues to mystify its everyday users. It has so many features and so much power that it often feels indomitable. For beginners, what are the most important spreadsheet formatting tips you need to know?
Today, we boost your computer skills with five need-to-know Excel formatting tips for all types of spreadsheets.
1. Leave Empty Rows and Columns
Spreadsheets are already hard enough to read, so you don’t want to make them more impenetrable. A common mistake that many beginners make is crowding the Excel document. This happens in many ways, but especially by filling the document immediately from the first row and the first column.
So the first tip is simple enough: intentionally leave the first row and column blank. This gives a nice buffer space to improve the rest of the spreadsheet’s readability. Especially for a more complex c# create Excel file.
2. Use Wrap Text
Sometimes, your cells have a tendency to spill beyond their borders. This looks sloppy and makes readability almost impossible.
Use the wrap text function from Home > Alignment Group to fix this. Now the text matches the cell width. Select entire columns and rows to apply this to only certain sections, or apply it as the system default.
3. Use Color Schemes
You can color cells yourself by hand, but that’s time-consuming. You might think the solution is to select multiple cells at once, but there’s still a better way to do it.
In the Page Layout section, choose colors and select a color scheme. This applies a universal color scheme for improved readability and aesthetics.
Excel provides dozens of color schemes by default. However, you can download more online if they don’t suit your needs.
4. Apply Cell Styles
In addition to colors are cell styles. This includes text color, bold and italic text styles, and border coloring options. Similar to the color schemes, you can apply this to all cells of its kind.
Same with color schemes, there are a ton of cell styles to choose from. Still, you can make your own to fit your needs as necessary.
5. Use Format Painter
In some cases, you have multiple formats across different cell types and information grouping blocks. You can manually apply specific formats to their relevant sections. Or, you could use a nifty copy-and-paste-like tool called Format Painter.
Format Painter is about as simple as it gets. Select a section, click the Format Painter button, then select another section and apply it.
Find More Spreadsheet Formatting Tips
Now you have all the spreadsheet formatting tips you need to create Excel files that look good with fewer clicks. Start off by having a clean border with empty columns and rows. Then decorate your document with color schemes, cell styles, or copy your designs with Format Painter.
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