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TheExcelAddict.com

 
November 21, 2018
 
Hi fellow Excel Addict,
 
I had intended to send this newsletter out yesterday, ahead of the American Thanksgiving Day holiday, but something came up and I got delayed. Now, I am wishing my American readers a Happy Thanksgiving today on the holiday, though many are likely not at work to read this.

Happy Thanksgiving

In Canada, we celebrated Thanksgiving in October. But really we all should be celebrating it every day for all of the wonderful things we have to be thankful for in this world.

Today my 'Excel in Minutes' tip is 'Quickly Apply Your Own Predefined Cell Formatting Styles'

I always appreciate it when I get feedback from my readers letting me know if my tips help them — or maybe if it doesn't because may they do things differently.

If you find today's 'Excel in Minutes' tip helpful, please share it with other Excel users that you know.
They will be thankful.

Keep on Excelling,
Francis Hayes (The Excel Addict)
Email:  fhayes[AT]TheExcelAddict.com





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"I have learned that if one advances confidently in the direction of his dreams, and endeavors to live the life he has imagined, he will meet with a success unexpected in common hours."

-- Henry David Thoreau --

 
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THIS WEEK'S 'EXCEL IN MINUTES' TIP

 
Quickly Apply Your Own Predefined Cell Formatting Styles

A Cell Style is a predefined set of formatting attributes such as Number, Alignment, Font, Border, Fill, and Protection. Cell styles allow you quickly apply more than one format to a range of cells in a single step.

Cell styles are frequently used to highlight column headings, input cells, formula cells, protected cells
, items requiring review, above average, below average or almost anything you would want to stand out on your worksheet.

To apply a predefined Cell Style, select the cells where you want to apply the style, then click the Cell Styles dropdown arrow on the Home tab and choose a style.


Cell Style Palette in Microsoft Excel 2007 2010 2013 2016 365 2019

You are not limited to the cell styles provided by Excel. You can easily create custom cell styles of your own. This allows you to quickly apply your own custom formatting consistently to cells throughout your workbook.

Create a Cell Style By Example

The easiest way to create a new custom cell style is by choosing a cell that already contains the formatting attributes you want and defining a custom style based on that cell.

1) Select a single cell with the formatting you want to use as your new style. If there isn't an existing cell with the formatting you want, in a single cell, apply the desired formatting as you normally do.
Do not select more than one cell as only the attributes common to both will be used;

2) On the Home tab, click the New Cell Style... option at the bottom of the Cell Styles gallery. You will notice that the current cell's formatting is listed in the Style Includes (By Example) section of the dialog;

3) Type a new name for the style  and click OK.

Create Cell Style By Example in Microsoft Excel 2007 2010 2013 2016 365 2019

After you close the Style dialog box, you will see new cell styles conveniently located in the Custom section at the top of the Cell Styles gallery. To instantly apply your new custom style to cells anywhere in your workbook, select cells where you want it applied and click your style name in the Styles gallery.


Custom Cell Styles Listed At Top in Microsoft Excel 2007 2010 2013 2016 365 2019

Modify an Existing Cell Style

To modify an existing style...

1) On the Home tab click the Cell Styles dropdown;

2) Right click on a style and choose Modify...;

3) In the Style dialog you can check or uncheck which attributes you want to be applied with this style. Click the Format... button to see the specific attributes currently include in this style and make further modifications if necessary. Then click OK to finish.

Modify Cell Style Dialog in Microsoft Excel 2007 2010 2013 2016 365 2019
Applying Cell Styles is not the same as using Format Painter

Applying a Cell Style to a range of cells is not the same as copying and pasting formatting (e.g. Format Painter). When a cell style is applied to a range of cells, only the formatting attributes defined in that style are applied. So, for example, if you have a custom cell style that includes only Font and Fill formatting, when this cell style is applied to a range of cells, only the Fill and Font attributes are applied. All other formatting previously included in the target cells is retained (e.g. Number formatting, Borders, etc...).

Clear styles from cells

To clear any cell style that has been applied to cells in your worksheet, click Home, Cell Styles, and click the Normal style.

Creating Cell Styles to be used in any workbook

Cell Styles are saved only in the workbook in which they are created. To find out how to save Cell Styles so that you can apply them to any workbook, check out this tip.

Deleting Cell Styles - BE CAREFUL!

One major drawback with using Cell Styles is that, if you delete a cell style, all formatting defined in that style is removed from all cells throughout the workbook that have been formatted with it.

When you delete a style, there is no warning message and you cannot Undo the delete operation.
So BE CAREFUL!

To delete any custom or built-in Cell Style (except the Normal style), if it is visible on the Ribbon, right click the style and choose Delete. Otherwise, click the Cell Styles dropdown, right click the style in the gallery and choose Delete.

This is not a complete overview of Cell Styles, so I recommend that you spend a little time exploring and considering how you could use Cell Styles to make your job easier and your workbooks easier to understand.




'Excel in Minutes' with The Excel Addict
Quickly Apply Your Own Predefined Cell Formatting Styles
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