Please Note: This article is written for users of the following Microsoft Excel versions: 97, 2000, 2002, and 2003. If you are using a later version (Excel 2007 or later), this tip may not work for you. For a version of this tip written specifically for later versions of Excel, click here: Changing the Percent Symbol.

Changing the Percent Symbol

Written by Allen Wyatt (last updated September 28, 2021)
This tip applies to Excel 97, 2000, 2002, and 2003


2

Brian asked whether it is possible to use a symbol different than the % sign to represent a percentage in a cell. This is actually rather easy to do using a custom format, as described in other ExcelTips. All you need to do is create a custom format that looks similar to this:

0.0"#"

This displays a value followed by a pound sign, so that 12.3 would be displayed as 12.3#. To use a different symbol, just change whatever is within the quote marks. You can also get fancier with the custom format, such as this one that displays the word "widgets" instead of the percent sign and shows negative values in red:

#,##0_)"widgets";[Red](#,##0) "widgets"

The thing to remember about this approach is that the value is displayed "as is," so to speak. When you enter a value into a cell that is formatted as a percentage, Excel can—and often does—modify the value so it is internally consistent with a percentage. For instance, enter the value 12.3 into a cell formatted as a percentage, and Excel converts it to 0.123, which is 12.3%. If you apply a custom format to a cell and then enter the value 12.3, Excel will leave it at 12.3; it won't divide it by 100. While a display of "12.3%" and "12.3#" may look similar, the actual contents of the cell are quite different, assuming that the first is a true percentage and the second is not.

If you don't really care whether the value in the cell is usable in formulas, another approach is that you could concatenate your own symbol to the end of the value. For instance, if you have a percentage in cell A1, you could use the following in a different cell:

=A1 * 100 & " pct"

If cell A1 contains the 12.3% (a cell value of 0.123), then the formula returns "12.3 pct" (without the quote marks). Since what is returned is actually text and no longer a numeric value, the result cannot be used in other numeric formulas.

ExcelTips is your source for cost-effective Microsoft Excel training. This tip (3459) applies to Microsoft Excel 97, 2000, 2002, and 2003. You can find a version of this tip for the ribbon interface of Excel (Excel 2007 and later) here: Changing the Percent Symbol.

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

Two Keys with the Press of One

Sometimes it could be helpful to have Word substitute two characters for the one that you type, for instance to replace a ...

Discover More

Changing the Footnote Continuation Notice

When a footnote needs to span two printed pages, Word prints a continuation notice at the end of the footnote being ...

Discover More

Deleting Shortcuts

Windows allows you to easily create any number of shortcuts you desire. If you want to get rid of those shortcuts at some ...

Discover More

Solve Real Business Problems Master business modeling and analysis techniques with Excel and transform data into bottom-line results. This hands-on, scenario-focused guide shows you how to use the latest Excel tools to integrate data from multiple tables. Check out Microsoft Excel 2013 Data Analysis and Business Modeling today!

More ExcelTips (menu)

Adding Drop Shadows to Cells

Want to draw attention to what is in a cell? What better way than to add a drop shadow to that cell! Here's how you can ...

Discover More

Too Many Cell Formats

The error message "too many cell formats" can be difficult to fix. This tip describes ways you can attempt to get rid of ...

Discover More

No More Custom Formats Can Be Added

If you make too many formatting changes to your workbook, you could end up with a situation where you cannot make any ...

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.

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 7 - 7?

2017-03-26 19:12:35

Allen

Actually, no. I meant "pound," not "hash." The symbol entails a bit of ambiguity. From Wikipedia: "The symbol # is most commonly known as the number sign, hash, or pound sign."

To generations of Americans, it was known as a "pound sign" for much longer than it has been known as a "hash sign."

-Allen


2017-03-26 18:41:34

Ray Austin

In your opening sentence I guess "pound" should read "hash"
"This displays a value followed by a pound sign, so that 12.3 would be displayed as 12.3#."

Ray A


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.