To make a number easy to read, or to make it a ‘round’ number you can format it to only show a certain number of decimal places regardless of how many are actually in the cell. Instead of having to use your mouse to format the cell in a number of steps, you can do it quicker using keyboard shortcuts.
Note: Download the workbook to practice this exercise
Applies To: Microsoft Excel 2010 and 2013
- Open the demonstration workbook. You will note that the Product Sales price is a formula that multiplies the Quantity amount by the Unit Price.
The Unit Price amount extends, in some instances, to four decimal places.
- Select column F.
3. Press the ‘ALT’ key. You will now see letters appearing along each tab on the Ribbon.
4. The ‘Increase Decimal’ and ‘Decrease Decimal’ commands are located on the ‘Home’ tab. Press the letter ‘H’ to activate the Home tab.
- You will now see a reference for each icon on the Home Ribbon.
6. The Increase and Decrease Decimal icons have a ‘0’ and a ‘9’ as their respective shortcuts.
7. Press ‘0’ to increment the number of decimal places.
8. To increase the decimal spacing by another digit, repeat steps 3 to 7.
NB: to decrease the decimal spacing, substitute ‘0’ for ‘9’. Also, the F4 command which could normally be used to repeat the last command does not work with this shortcut.
