Formatting Raw Data

Summary: Formatting raw data into consistent reports on an ongoing basis is easy with this tip. (This tip works with Microsoft Excel 97, Excel 2000, Excel 2002, and Excel 2003.)

It is not unusual for Excel to be used for common data in a business environment. For instance, it may be used for weekly reports or something similar, where similar data is presented in the same format time after time.

A problem may arise, however, when the data is generated by someone else, but you are charged with formatting it for final presentation. If you find yourself in this situation, you may be doing the same formatting chores over and over again each week.

To solve this situation and apply formatting very quickly to your new (but unformatted) data, follow these steps:

Open up a worksheet that contains your unformatted data.
Open up a worksheet that contains the formatted data from a previous week.
Select all the cells in the formatted worksheet by clicking on the block where the header row and column meet. (Just to the left of the A and just above the 1.)
Click on the Format Painter tool.
Switch to the unformatted worksheet.
Click in cell A1.

ExcelTips is your source for cost-effective Microsoft Excel training. This tip (1971) applies to Microsoft Excel versions: 97 | 2000 | 2002 | 2003

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