Format cells and highlight important values

What you can do#

Home formatting controls set fonts, emphasis, colours, alignment, wrapping and borders. Number formats change how values appear, including dates, percentages and currency. They do not replace the underlying value, so calculations continue to work with the stored contents.

Conditional formatting makes visual changes according to rules. Use it to highlight exceptions, compare magnitudes or identify values worth reviewing. Data bars, colour scales and supported icon rules provide compact visual summaries, but colour should not be the only way a reader understands a result.

Try it#

A rounded display can hide precision that still affects totals. Inspect the formula bar when a sum appears surprising. Keep labels and units explicit, and use a consistent format for each column. After importing a workbook, inspect conditional formatting because unsupported rules or extensions may not survive a save.

1. Select the cells to format and choose an appropriate number format.
2. Apply alignment, wrapping and column widths so headings remain readable.
3. Add a conditional formatting rule to a defined range.
4. Check values at both ends of the range and revise the rule if needed.