Lesson 6 – Number Formatting (Currency, Date, Percentage)

MS Excel Course • Level 1 – Beginner Essentials • Lesson 6

Excel stores numbers but lets you display them in many formats: currency, date, time, percentage, and more.

What you will learn

• Difference between value and display format
• Currency format
• Date format
• Percentage format
• Decimal control

1. Number Formatting Basics

Every number in Excel has two parts:

• Actual value stored in the cell
• Format (how Excel displays it)

2. Currency Format

• Select cells
• Home → Number group → Currency
• Shortcut: Ctrl + Shift + $

Decimal control

Use .00 → .0 buttons to increase/decrease decimals.

3. Percentage Format

• Enter number like 0.25
• Click % button → shows 25%

If you type 25% directly, Excel stores it as 0.25.

4. Date Formatting

Enter a date like 12/01/2025.

• Home → Number group → Date format
• Long date example: Sunday, 12 January 2025
• Short date example: 12-01-2025

Common issue

If Excel shows #####, just widen the column.

Practice Task

• Format a list of prices as currency
• Format numbers as percentages
• Enter 5 dates and apply short & long formats

Homework

• Create a small sales table with quantity, price, and percentage discount
• Format each column properly