Written by Allen Wyatt (last updated March 21, 2020)
This tip applies to Excel 97, 2000, 2002, and 2003
If you are familiar with Word and PowerPoint, you may have noticed that both programs allow you to embed fonts in documents or presentations. This is very handy, particularly if you feel that someone else receiving your document or presentation may not have your font on their system.
Unfortunately, Excel does not allow you to embed fonts in workbooks. Word has an intimate relationship with something in concrete reality: the printed page. Almost everything it does is in relationship to how something will be printed, and Word queries the printer driver many times during an editing session in order to represent information accurately onscreen. PowerPoint, as well, makes at least some reference to what can be printed or displayed onscreen.
Excel, on the other hand, is not all that interested in printing because a worksheet is really just a representation of a set of quantities and relationships--things which are fundamentally abstract. In fact, it wasn't until Excel 95 that Excel's default font was changed to Arial (a TrueType font) instead of MS Sans-Serif (a non-scalable screen font whose printing vagaries are legion).
If you really must embed fonts to make your worksheet appear properly, there is one thing you can try: Embed the Excel worksheet in a Word document in which the desired font is also embedded. You will need to make sure, of course, that the font you've chosen is embeddable (some are not). When someone else opens the document, they may see the information as you intended. Of course, they will need to use Word instead of Excel for viewing the information.
ExcelTips is your source for cost-effective Microsoft Excel training. This tip (1969) applies to Microsoft Excel 97, 2000, 2002, and 2003.
Dive Deep into Macros! Make Excel do things you thought were impossible, discover techniques you won't find anywhere else, and create powerful automated reports. Bill Jelen and Tracy Syrstad help you instantly visualize information to make it actionable. You’ll find step-by-step instructions, real-world case studies, and 50 workbooks packed with examples and solutions. Check out Microsoft Excel 2019 VBA and Macros today!
If you have some legacy data stored in very old spreadsheet files, you may be wondering how to get that data into an ...
Discover MoreDialog boxes are designed to be limited in scope, so that they cover only a portion of your screen. What if a dialog box ...
Discover MoreYou can freeze information in rows or columns using one of the built-in features of Excel. As you move up or down in the ...
Discover MoreFREE SERVICE: Get tips like this every week in ExcelTips, a free productivity newsletter. Enter your address and click "Subscribe."
There are currently no comments for this tip. (Be the first to leave your comment—just use the simple form above!)
Got a version of Excel that uses the menu interface (Excel 97, Excel 2000, Excel 2002, or Excel 2003)? This site is for you! If you use a later version of Excel, visit our ExcelTips site focusing on the ribbon interface.
FREE SERVICE: Get tips like this every week in ExcelTips, a free productivity newsletter. Enter your address and click "Subscribe."
Copyright © 2025 Sharon Parq Associates, Inc.
Comments