Formatting Raw Data

Written by Allen Wyatt (last updated June 4, 2022)
This tip applies to Excel 97, 2000, 2002, and 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:

  1. Open up a worksheet that contains your unformatted data.
  2. Open up a worksheet that contains the formatted data from a previous week.
  3. 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.)
  4. Click on the Format Painter tool.
  5. Switch to the unformatted worksheet.
  6. Click in cell A1.

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

Author Bio

Allen Wyatt

With more than 50 non-fiction books and numerous magazine articles to his credit, Allen Wyatt is an internationally recognized author. He is president of Sharon Parq Associates, a computer and publishing services company. ...

MORE FROM ALLEN

Printing and Exiting Word in a Macro

When you print a document, Word remains busy in the background until the printing is done. If you try to end the program ...

Discover More

Replacing Dashes with Periods

Replacing one character in a text value with another character is easy. All you need to do is use the SUBSTITUTE ...

Discover More

Defeating Automatic Date Parsing

Excel is continually trying to figure out what type of data is being stored in a cell. If it can interpret a value as a ...

Discover More

Best-Selling VBA Tutorial for Beginners Take your Excel knowledge to the next level. With a little background in VBA programming, you can go well beyond basic spreadsheets and functions. Use macros to reduce errors, save time, and integrate with other Microsoft applications. Fully updated for the latest version of Office 365. Check out Microsoft 365 Excel VBA Programming For Dummies today!

More ExcelTips (menu)

Creating a Center Across Selection Button

The ability to center text across a range of cells has long been a staple of experienced Excel users. Here's how to ...

Discover More

Changing the Font Size in Combo Boxes

When you add a combo box to a worksheet, Excel makes some assumptions about the best font size to use in the control. ...

Discover More

Removing All Formatting

Getting rid of formatting from a cell or group of cells can be done using several different techniques. This tip ...

Discover More
Subscribe

FREE SERVICE: Get tips like this every week in ExcelTips, a free productivity newsletter. Enter your address and click "Subscribe."

View most recent newsletter.

(Your e-mail address is not shared with anyone, ever.)

Comments

If you would like to add an image to your comment (not an avatar, but an image to help in making the point of your comment), include the characters [{fig}] (all 7 characters, in the sequence shown) in your comment text. You’ll be prompted to upload your image when you submit the comment. Maximum image size is 6Mpixels. Images larger than 600px wide or 1000px tall will be reduced. Up to three images may be included in a comment. All images are subject to review. Commenting privileges may be curtailed if inappropriate images are posted.

What is seven more than 6?

There are currently no comments for this tip. (Be the first to leave your comment—just use the simple form above!)

This Site

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.

Newest Tips
Subscribe

FREE SERVICE: Get tips like this every week in ExcelTips, a free productivity newsletter. Enter your address and click "Subscribe."

(Your e-mail address is not shared with anyone, ever.)

View the most recent newsletter.

Links and Sharing
OUR COMPANY
OUR PRODUCTS
OUR SITES
 

Copyright © 2026 Sharon Parq Associates, Inc.