FORMATTING CELLS
Review

Let's review what we know:
  • References can be used to connect data in cells directly to formulas
  • You can use clicking and clicking-and-dragging to easily add references to formulas
  • We learned the AVERAGE and COUNTIF functions
  • You can see a list of functions in the INSERT menu, "Functions..." command
  • You can use the FILL technique to repeat cell contents, continue patterns, or repeat formulas
  • If a cell or range is seen inside a formula, it is called a reference--for example, a cell reference, or a range reference

Now, let's look at how we can use formulas with functions.
Overview

First of all, you can apply common character- and paragraph-level changes. Look at the table below. Let's say that we want to give most of the cells center alignment.


One way to do that would be to select the cells we want to change, and then simply click on the "center" and "bottom" align buttons in the Home tab.

In this way, you can use the Home tab to create any character effects (font, font size, font color, etc.) or paragraph formatting (alignment).

To do center alignment, however, you could also "Format Cells." In the Home tab:

Go to the "Cells" section and click on "Format":

At the bottom of the menu, select "Format Cells..." and set the Text Alignment.


Notice the part on the right which says "Orientation." We'll do that next.

Formatting cells in Excel is very similar to formatting cells in tables in Word. In addition to formatting the text, you can also apply borders, shading, and other effects to make your cells look like a well-formatted table.
Orientation

Next, go to the "Format Cells..." dialog box again, and change the orientations as shown below:

You'll see that the titles now read diagonally.

Now, just change the width of the columns as we learned earlier:

Next, we will apply a border.

Notice that the titles in Row 2 are too big; the cross over each other. What's more, we should make the columns narrower, because the numbers are narrow. So, how can we get the titles to look right? Well, first you select the titles:
Borders

Let's add borders to the cells with information in them. Notice that the cell B2 has no information. How can we select all the other cells, but not that one? Here's how:
  1. select C2 to G2
  2. hold down the control key, and
  3. select B3 to G6, then let go of the control key

Your selection should look like this:

Next, open the FORMAT: Cells... dialog box, and select the "Border" tab. As shown in the image below, click on the thick line (1) and then click on the "Outline" box (2); then click on the thin line (3) and then click on the "Inside" box (4). Then click "OK."

The cells should now look like this:

Next, let's add some color.

Shading

To add color shading to cells, first select the cells you want to color. Then, on the Home tab, in the "Font" section, click on the Fill Color button to give a shading.

Repeat these steps as many times as you need to create the desired coloring. The end result should look something like this:
Now You Know...

Now you know how to format cells in Excel.

Next, we will learn how to create charts from tables like the one we worked on above.