Without a Mouse

Hi there,

I hope the onset of Autumn is treating you well.

Here's October's edition of the Without a Mouse newsletter.

In this edition:

• Topical Tap - currency format in Microsoft® Excel
• Topical Tip - other number formats in Microsoft® Excel
• Contact Details

Topical Tap -
Currency format in Microsoft® Excel

This issue's topical tap is for Microsoft ® Excel and is the keystroke for assigning currency format to numbers. The keystroke is CTRL + SHIFT + 4 . The easy way to remember this is that Excel is a US product and their currency is the dollar - $. To type a dollar you type shift + 4. So currency is really Ctrl + dollar sign.

This keystroke will format the number in the selected cell to 2 decimal places and put your currency symbol in. So there will be a dollar sign in the US, a pound sign (£) in the UK and a euro sign (€) for countries in the euro zone. The currency symbol is picked up from your general Windows® regional settings.

Topical Tip -
more number formatting in Excel

There are other keystrokes for other number formats.

If you want to have numbers formatted to 2 decimal places, like currency but without the currency symbol, use CTRL + SHIFT + 1 . In fact this will Apply the "Number" format with two decimal places, thousands separator, and minus sign (–) for negative values.

To format a number as a percentage, with the percent sign (%), the keystroke is CTRL + SHIFT + 5

CTRL + SHIFT + # (hash) applies the date format with the day, month, and year.

CTRL + SHIFT + @ applies the "Time" format with the hour and minute, and AM or PM.

Generally if you are using a spreadsheet with lots of figures you are likely to want to apply these formats to all cells in a column or in a row. So 2 final keystrokes you might find useful are:

• CTRL + SPACE to select all the cells in the column; and
• SHIFT + SPACE
to select all the cells in the row

A Caveat

Some assistive technology software (like screen readers and magnification) may already use some of the keystrokes above. If that is the case they more than likley have a "pass-through" key. Press this key then the excel keystroke.

Signing Off

Thanks for reading. Next time, broadband connections.
See you then,

Rebecca

Rebecca Ballard
Without a Mouse Training
PO Box 5157
Cardiff
RG31 5XJ

Tel: 0870 765 3258
Mob: 07017 412 662

Email: rebecca@withoutamouse.com

Web: www.withoutamouse.com
and www.rebeccaballard.com

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