Did you know you can change the way Microsoft Excel displays numbers and dates?

Have you noticed if you type numbers into cells how it actually looks?  This is known as the Format.  Look at the figures on the right....

How about displaying the numbers as currency all correctly lined up?  (In other words formatting the cells as currency)

1. Right click on the column header (in this case the letter A in the grey box at the top)

2. You should see a menu pop.  Just Left click on Format Cells... and the Format Cells box will pop up looking like this...

3. Make sure the Number tab (a) is selected.  Click on Currency in the list on the left (b).  Keep an eye on the Sample (c) to see the effect.

4. Click the OK button and hey presto... the numbers in column A are now all displayed as currency.  Notice that you can type any figures in column A now and they will display as currency.

How about Formatting dates?
Formatting dates in excel is fun.  Let's play a little game... Do you know what day of the week you were born on?  Excel does!  Try this...

1. Type your date of birth into a cell.  The easiest way to type a date is to use the calculator pad on the right of your keyboard and use the following format date/month number/year e.g.  27/6/61

2. Now click the green tick at the top (d)  to enter it into the cell.  Notice the year will change to a 4 figure year  (e.g. 1961)

3. Right click on the cell with your date in it and select Format Cells (like before)

4. This time select Custom in the list on the left.

5. Now look at the right hand side where it says Type:  Delete the letters dd/mm/yyyy (so it is blank)

6. Now you can format the date how you wish according to these rules:

d = single character date (e.g. in my example 27)

dd = two character date (e.g. still 27 - but if it was the 7th it would display 07)

ddd = three letter day of the week (e.g. Tue)

dddd = full name of day (e.g. Tuesday)

m = single character month  (e.g. in my example 6)

mm = two character month  (e.g. still 06)

mmm = three letter name of the month (e.g. Jun)

mmmm = full name of month (e.g. June)

yy = two figure year (e.g. 61)

yyyy = four figure year (1961)

Therefore if you type dddd d mmmm yyyy it will display as: Tuesday 27 June 1961

Now you can just type another family members' birth date in that cell using the number keypad as at step 1 and 2 and see what day they were born on.

Tip: I often format dates as d mmm yy (1 Aug 05) so it's a neat short way of displaying dates clearly and are not confused with American formats.