Altering the Displayed Format of Numbers to the Nearest 100

Summary: Want information in a worksheet to be formatted and displayed as rounded to a power of ten? You may be out of luck, unless you want to round to either the nearest thousand or million. Here's why. (This tip works with Microsoft Excel 97, Excel 2000, Excel 2002, Excel 2003, and Excel 2007.)

Frank asked if there is a way, using a custom number format, to round the display of numbers to the nearest 10, 100, etc., without affecting the original numbers.

The answer is that there is a way, and there isn't a way. (Don't you love those answers?) There are custom number formats that allow you to round the display to the nearest thousand or the nearest million, as follows:

[<=500] "0";#,"000"
[<=500000] "0";#,,"000000"

The first format will round to the nearest thousand, and the second will round to the nearest million. If you are looking for a custom format that will round to some other power of 10, you are out of luck, however. In those instances, the best solution may be to simply create another worksheet that uses formulas for rounding and uses the contents of the original worksheet as the source.

ExcelTips is your source for cost-effective Microsoft Excel training. This tip (1937) applies to Microsoft Excel versions: 97 | 2000 | 2002 | 2003 | 2007

Your Data, Your Way! Want the greatest control possible over how your data appears on the page? Excel's custom formats can provide that control, and ExcelTips: Custom Formats can unlock the secrets to creating your own custom formats.

Check out ExcelTips: Custom Formats today!

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Altering the Displayed Format of Numbers to the Nearest 100