Changing an Existing Style

Written by Allen Wyatt (last updated October 12, 2024)
This tip applies to Excel 97, 2000, 2002, and 2003

One of the great things about styles is that you can change them to suit the needs of the workbook you are developing. You can easily change an existing style in Excel by following these steps:

  1. Choose Style from the Format menu. You will see the Style dialog box. (See Figure 1.)

    2. Figure 1. The Style dialog box.

  2. Use the Style Name pull-down list to select the style you want to modify.
  3. Click on the Modify button. This displays the Format Cells dialog box. (See Figure 2.)

    4. Figure 2. The Format Cells dialog box.

  4. Using the controls in the dialog box, make any changes to the cell formatting desired.
  5. Click on OK to close the Format Cells dialog box. The Style dialog box remains displayed.
  6. Adjust the check box selections in the balance of the dialog box to indicate which specific attributes should be saved with your style.
  7. Click on Add to actually save your changes to the style.
  8. Repeat steps 2 through 7 to change any additional styles.
  9. Click on OK to close the Style dialog box.

ExcelTips is your source for cost-effective Microsoft Excel training. This tip (2682) 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

Replacing Formatting Functions as a Toggle

Sarra is having a problem getting Find and Replace to behave properly when replacing italic-formatted text. This tip ...

Discover More

Disabling a Function Key

Function keys are used to perform common tasks in Excel. If you want to disable one of the function keys, it's rather ...

Discover More

Capitals After Colons

Do you want Word to always capitalize the first letter appearing after a colon? The program won't do it by default, but ...

Discover More

Excel Smarts for Beginners! Featuring the friendly and trusted For Dummies style, this popular guide shows beginners how to get up and running with Excel while also helping more experienced users get comfortable with the newest features. Check out Excel 2013 For Dummies today!

More ExcelTips (menu)

Copying Styles

Styles can make your worksheet formatting easier and more consistent. Here's how to copy styles from an existing workbook ...

Discover More

Deleting a Style

Excel allows you to define styles that help you display data in a consistent manner. When you no longer need a particular ...

Discover More

Deleting Unwanted Styles

Custom styles can be a great help in formatting a worksheet. You may, at some point, want to get rid of all the custom ...

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 0 + 7?

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 © 2025 Sharon Parq Associates, Inc.