In the past here at Chandoo.org and at many many other sites, people have asked the question “How can I display a number Multiplied or Divided by 10, 100, 1000, 1000000 etc, but still have the cell maintain the original number for use in subsequent calculations“.
Typically the answer has been limited to “It can’t be done” or “It can only be done in multiples of 1000”.
Well thanks to a tip I picked up from Kyle who responded to a post here at Chandoo.org they are all wrong.
It is possible to Multiply or Divide any cell contents by any power of 10 using Custom Number Formats !
That is:
How does this work:
When using custom number format we have two possibilities to modify the display number
- Use a Comma to divide by 1000; or
- Use a % to Multiply by 100
So using a combination of these any power of 10 can be obtained.
So using the correct combination of , and % can result in any power of 10 multiplier we require.
The problem is that using a % adds a % to the number!
The trick which Kyle added is that adding a Ctrl J to the Custom Number format allows us to hide the % signs on a second row of text, then by adjusting the cell to have word wrap and adjusting the row height the second row is not visible.
The Ctrl J must be added after the ,’s and before the %’s
So using the examples above the table is:
The Ctrl J adds a Carriage Return, chr(10), to the Format String.
Finally after applying the Custom Number Format the Cell must be edited to enable Word Wrap.
Select the Cells with the custom Formats, Ctrl 1, Alignment
You can see the hidden % symbols if you increase the Row Height.
Combination with Regular Custom Formats
These Custom Number Formats can of course still be combined with regular Custom Number Formats, just make sure that the Ctrl J is inserted before the % signs:
No Loss of the Cells Value
It is also worth noting that the original number is still maintained internally in the cell and that cells dependent on the cells don’t have to adjust for the display value.
Multi Line Formats
By extension we can now use this technique to add multiple Lines of Text to a Custom Number Format
Downloads
You can download a file containing all the above example here: Download Here
Other Links to Custom Number Formats
Here:
http://chandoo.org/wp/2008/02/25/custom-cell-formatting-in-excel-few-tips-tricks/
http://chandoo.org/wp/2011/11/02/a-technique-to-quickly-develop-custom-number-formats/
http://chandoo.org/wp/2011/08/19/selective-chart-axis-formating/
http://chandoo.org/wp/2011/08/22/custom-chart-axis-formating-part-2/
http://chandoo.org/wp/tag/custom-cell-formatting/
Elsewhere
http://www.ozgrid.com/Excel/CustomFormats.htm
http://peltiertech.com/Excel/NumberFormats.html
Thanx
Just a quick final Thank You to Kyle for highlighting this Custom Number Format feature/trick last week
I look forward to your comments below:
23 Responses to “Learn Top 10 Excel Features”
What it looks like if excel without formula?? 🙂
It would be not excel it would just be fancy tables in which you could just use power point. (Chandoo) would Access be an alternative?
Awesome piece of work!!!
Great article.
Chandoo - my biggest interest in the article was the awesome word-graphic at the top - where did you go to get it done into a shape?
@Rich.. thank you. I used http://www.tagxedo.com/ to generate this word cloud. I took all the comments in the original post, pasted them in tagxedo website and set up the shape etc.
Awesome Chandoo.. You need always needs coffee to start up with. BTW , how did u created the Heart Shaped picture filled with High Repetitive text in it .. Please put it on your Next blog ...
Chandoo, good article. I’ve added a link to it from Connexion – our collection of the most useful and interesting spreadsheet-related articles from the web. See http://www.i-nth.com/resources/connexion
Hi,
Just one small question. Where the hell have been I in the past for not discovering this website sooner?
I've lost a job interview recently where even though I had the subject knowledge, I was not upto their mark in Excel.
Thank you for all the free tips, guidance and for creating this forum environment.
[PS: I've just been through the site for the 1st time, and have signed up for the newsletter. You can expect pretty stupid questions from me soon]
Hy Chandoo, you always inspire me with to explore something new in excel. This data structure table is only for excel 2007 or compatible to 2010. I recently installed latest excel version 2013 in my System and experience problems regarding operating according to previous one. I'm waiting your article relates to that excel version.
Thanks
Awesome article Mr. Chandoo and that is a awesome heart shaped pic you created. Great tips as well.
[...] Learn Top 10 Excel Features | Chandoo.org – Learn Microsoft Excel Online. [...]
Chandoo is awesome..
Thanks, i got better, And i always get 90.50 in my grade card but now i get 96.50 i improved because of the tutorials you gave, Thank You Very Much Chandoo Guy.
Hi chandoo, i am intersted in seeing the video or step by step done procedure of analysing the comments and presenting in the data percentage steps. I think this one would be first step in finding out how generally happens data calculation. Thank you.
As well i would like to know how to get that black shape art of your face which i see in chandoo. I am interested in making it for me.
Nice to see the features considered by Excel users to be most useful. It might be a good idea to also analyze StackOverflow Excel questions to see what keywords appear most often.
Here are my top 10 Excel Features (for advanced users):
http://www.analystcave.com/excel-10-top-excel-features/
Thanks a ton for this it totally helped with my homework ????
Very good effort
Thank you for this. Lots of learning in the links you've provided for this septuagenarian.
Pls send me new post
Dude, your humor ? ?
Loved your work.
Hello Sir,
I am Sanjeev Khakre and i from Indore City, India , I am your big follower and i have watch your videos and learnt a lots of excel trick or function and many more . thanks so much for all of your excellent support.
Your excel knowledge is real awesome.
Thanks
Sanjeev
Your work is excellent but pls willing to know more details about the features of microsoft excel
Chandoo Would Access be a better alternative than VB?