Microsoft® Office System Step by Step -- 2003 Edition

Making Numbers Easier to Read

Changing the format of the cells in your worksheet can make your data much easier to read, both by setting data labels apart from the actual data and by adding borders to define the boundaries between labels and data even more clearly. Of course, using formatting options to change the font and appearance of a cell’s contents doesn’t help with idiosyncratic data types such as dates, phone numbers, or currency.

For example, consider U.S. phone numbers. These numbers are 10 digits long and have a three-digit area code, a three-digit exchange, and a four-digit line number written in the form (###) ###-####. While it’s certainly possible to type a phone number with the expected formatting in a cell, it’s much simpler to ...