CCNC/CCNC Module 4/Formatting cells/Changing the appearance of cell contents

Changing the appearance of cell contents

Various changes may be made to the contents of cells. This is typically done to improve or enhance the appearance of the presentation.

Change font style, size and colour

The font style, size and colour of any group of cells whether text, number or date may be changed.

• Select the cells.
• Format->Cells
• Click the Font tab.

SCREENSHOT HERE

• Select the font, typeface, size and colour.
• Click OK.

Tip: You could have also changed the font style and size using the object bar.

Apply bold, italic, underline, double underline formats to cell contents

The simplest way to add underlining, bold or italic is to:

• Select the cells to be formatted.
• Click the desired effect on the object bar.

SCREENSHOT HERE

Double underline does not appear by default on the object bar. In this case:

• Select the cells to be formatted.
• Format->Cells
• Click the Font effects tab.
• Click down on the Underlining drop down window to view the different underlining options.

SCREENSHOT HERE

• Select the desired type of underlining.
• Click OK.

Apply different colours to cell contents and cell background

Suppose you have a single row of cells that you wish to display in a particular colour.

• Select the cells to be formatted
• Format->Cells
• Click the Font effects tab.
• Click on the drop down arrow next to Font colour to display the possible colours.

SCREENSHOT HERE

• Select the colour you wish to use.
• Click the OK colour.

You can also change the background of the cells which, by default, is white.

• Select the cells to be formatted.
• Format->Cells
• Click on the Background tab.

SCREENSHOT HERE

• Select the colour you wish to apply to the cell backgrounds
• Click OK.

Copy the formatting from a cell, cell range to another cell, cell range

Copying the formatting of a cell to another cell or range of cells involves a few steps. The following example illustrates the procedure.

In the following screen, cell A6 has been formatted to Roman, 12 point, bold, red. We wish to copy this formatting to cells A5 and A7:A9.

SCREENSHOT

• Format->Styles and Formatting

This displays the Cell styles dialogue. This dialogue contains five icons:

The first icon is the Cell styles icon while the second is the Page styles icon.

On the right hand side, the first icon (paint can) is the Fill format mode icon. The next is the New style from selection and the last the Update style icon. An icon can be selected from each group independently.

Tip: If you let your cursor hover over the icons, a tip will be displayed telling you what the icon is.

(: Styles and Formatting was used instead of Stylist of the original text, as that is the term used in the version (2.3) I am working with.)

• Select the Cell styles icon.
• Select the cell whose format you wish to copy and click the New style from selection icon.

SCREENSHOT HERE

• Enter an appropriate style name for the formatting
• click OK.

The new style name will appear in the list of styles.

• Select the style and click on the Fill format mode icon.

The cursor will now be displayed as a paint can.

• Hold down the left mouse button and drag the cursor over the cells whose format you wish to change.
• When you have finished, click on the Fill format mode icon once more.

This will change the cursor back to its normal pointing function.