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: Notation for Thousands and Millions.
Written by Allen Wyatt (last updated June 29, 2022)
This tip applies to Excel 97, 2000, 2002, and 2003
Jim wonders how he can get Excel to automatically display numbers using "k" for thousands and "m" for millions. As an example, if a cell contains the value $470,000 he would like it displayed as $470k; if it contains the value $1,107,432 he would like it displayed as $1.1m.
One obvious method is to create a formula that will display the information as desired. The following formula will take into account the magnitude of the number in cell B2 and then provide a formatted text string appropriate to that magnitude:
=IF(B2 < 1000,B2,IF(B2 < 1000000, "$" & ROUND(B2/1000,1) & "k", "$" & ROUND(B2/1000000,1) & "m"))
Remember that this is a single formula and should be entered entirely on one line. The drawback with such an approach, of course, is that the formula takes up space within your worksheet. To get around this you could, instead, create a custom format that will simply affect the display of the number in the cell.
To create a custom format if you are using a version of Excel prior to Excel 2007, choose Cells from the Format menu, display the Number tab, and click Custom at the left side of the dialog box. Here's the custom format you should create in the dialog box:
[>1000000]$#.0,,"m";[>1000]$#,"k";$#,##0
This format will display both millions and thousands using the desired notation. If the number is below a thousand then it will be displayed without any special notation. As appropriate, values are rounded to one decimal place.
ExcelTips is your source for cost-effective Microsoft Excel training. This tip (3528) 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: Notation for Thousands and Millions.
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2018-11-07 12:39:15
marina
Hi Allen,
is it possible to convert "M" to "K" dollars in the cell without formatting? For example, I have a file with different fomrats, one column has values in "M" dollars another one in "K" dollars and I need to make an enite file in "K" dollars. When I just format it, the total does not add up correctly because some are in M dollars and some in K... Please help. Thank you.
2018-04-04 05:37:20
Jacopo
Hi Allen,
Great and very useful article.
I have been trying to add billions by updating your format string but cannot make it work. I have used this string:
[>1000000000]$#.0,,,"b";[>1000000]$#.0,,"m";[>1000]$#,"k";$#,##0
Could you please help?
Thanks a lot
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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:
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