Display decimals only when the number is less than 1 [Excel number formatting tip]

Here is a quick excel number formatting tip. If you ever want to format numbers in such a way that it shows decimal values only if the number is less than 1 you can use conditional custom cell formatting (do not confuse with conditional formatting).

Here is an example:

In such cases you can use conditions in custom cell formatting.

• First select the numbers you want to format, hit CTRL+1 (or right mouse click > format cells)
• In the “Number” tab, select category as “custom”
• Now, write the formatting condition for custom formatting the cell. In our case the condition looks like [<1]_($#,##0.00_);_($#,##0_). See to the right. what it means is, if the cell value is less than 1 then format the cell in $#,##0.00 format otherwise format as $#,##0. Excel cell formatting is a tricky business and if you want to master it there is no better source than Peltier's article on Custom Number Formats.

More excel tips on formatting:

Formatting numbers in excel - few tips
Custom Cell formatting in Excel - Quick tips