Number Formatting

You can control how numbers are displayed in Tabulate by selecting options in the NUMBER section of the Tabulate ribbon, or on the Number tab in the Formatting Panel.

Formatting Panel

To access the Number formatting options in the Formatting panel:

  • Select the cell or cells that you want to format, and right-click Format Cells. The Number tab opens by default.
  • If you already had the Formatting panel open, you can just select some cells in the spreadsheet to change to the Number tab.

Number tab

The Number tab provides sets of formatting options that are applicable to different categories of number, including currency, dates, and so on.

The options on this panel are all driven by the Category:

Category

Description

General

Default. Displays numbers as they are entered.

Number

Displays numbers with standard formatting. You can set the number of Decimal Places, whether to use a 'thousands' separator, and how to display negative numbers.

Currency

Displays numbers with the specified currency symbol. You can set the Currency symbol, the number of Decimal Places, and how to display negative numbers.

Accounting

Displays numbers as monetary values in the accounting format; that is, with a right-justified currency symbol. You can set the Currency symbol and the number of Decimal Places.

Date

Displays numbers as dates. You can select the date format from the Type selection list.

Time

Displays numbers as a time. You can select the time format from the Type selection list.

Percent

Displays numbers as a percentage. Numbers are shown with a percent symbol, and with the number of Decimal Places specified.

Fraction

Displays numbers as imperial fractions. You can select the details of the format from the Type selection list.

Scientific

Displays numbers using scientific notation. You can select the number of Decimal Places.

Text

Displays numbers as text. In this format, mathematical calculations can no longer be performed.

Special

Displays numbers as a ZIP Code, phone number, or Social Security number.

Custom

Displays numbers with custom number formatting. You can select an existing number format code from the available list or type your own.

Note: The existing number formatting codes include thousand markers, decimal places, currency prefixes, and so on. If you want to add text to your number format code, you need to surround the text with "quotation marks". For example, to use thousand markers, two decimal places, and the text suffix MB, the number format code to enter is #,##0.00 "MB".

Tabulate Ribbon

Number Section

The drop-down list allows you to select a numbering format to apply to the selected text. You can then select further formatting options as seen below:

Category

Description

General

Default. Displays numbers as they are entered.

Number

Displays numbers with the specified number or decimal places, and a 'millions' or 'thousands' separator.

Currency

Displays numbers with the specified currency symbol. You can select the currency symbol using the $ icon.

Accounting

Displays numbers as monetary values in the accounting format; that is, with a right-justified currency symbol. You can select the currency symbol using the $ icon.

Short Date

Displays numbers as a date, in the format: dd/mmm/yyyy (for example: 12/11/2022).

Long Date

Displays numbers as a date in the format DDD, dd mmm yyyy (for example: Saturday 12 November 2022).

Time

Displays numbers as a time (24hr clock format).

Percentage

Displays numbers as a percentage.

Fraction

Displays numbers as imperial fractions.

Scientific

Displays numbers using scientific notation. For example: 2.50E-01.

Text

Displays numbers as text. In this format, mathematical calculations can no longer be performed.

Comma Style

Displays large numbers with a comma separating millions and thousands.

Decimal

Displays numbers as "non-separated" with the number of decimal places specified.

Other formatting options

Below the drop-down list are other icons:

Choose the required currency from the drop-down list.

Sets the number displayed to a percentage. Has the same function as selecting 'Percentage' from the drop-down list

Inserts a comma separator for Millions and Thousands. Has the same function as 'Comma Style' from the drop-down list.

Adds or removes one decimal place each time the relevant icon is clicked.

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