# Excel for Mac: How to shut off autoformatting? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [March 16, 2006, 1:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/excel-for-mac-how-to-shut-off-autoformatting/348542 "2006-03-16T01:03:31Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 16\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Aeschines](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aeschines/32/16251_2.png) [@Aeschines](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Aeschines)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2006, 1:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/excel-for-mac-how-to-shut-off-autoformatting/348542/1 "2006-03-16T01:03:31Z")
Grr. I type a URL into a cell, hit enter, and it makes the font gigante! Or it changes the color of a cell to that of another in the column! This shit’s useless, how do I just turn it off? ---
**Author:** ![panache45](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/panache45/32/64_2.png) [@panache45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panache45)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2006, 2:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/excel-for-mac-how-to-shut-off-autoformatting/348542/2 "2006-03-16T02:04:35Z")
Is this the same as “autocomplete”? if it is, Tools—\>Preferences—\>Edit—\>Uncheck “Enable AutoComplete for cell values.” If it’s not the same as “autocomplete,” it might be something similar. ---
**Author:** ![Sleel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/73ab20/32.png) [@Sleel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sleel)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2006, 2:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/excel-for-mac-how-to-shut-off-autoformatting/348542/3 "2006-03-16T02:29:33Z")
With Excel and Word, you generally have to change settings in several places to get the damn program to stop doing annoying crap like this. Look not only in the Preferences panel, but also the Auto-Format and Auto-Complete menus to see if there are settings there that affect URL formatting. I don’t have a copy of Excel on the machine I’m using so I can’t be more specific right now. I use NeoOffice on my OS X-only machine because the copies of Excel and Word I have are OS 9 and seem to be somewhat unstable under Classic emulation, so I use my older computer which can still boot into OS 9 for things I simply must have the real deal for. I’m not a power user of Excel or Word, so it’s rare that I do that. NeoOffice is a bit slow, but I’m not about to spend $400 for the most recent versions of those admittedly useful torture devices unless I really, really have to. So far, I haven’t. ---
**Author:** ![Aeschines](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aeschines/32/16251_2.png) [@Aeschines](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Aeschines)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2006, 4:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/excel-for-mac-how-to-shut-off-autoformatting/348542/4 "2006-03-16T16:38:22Z")
I just can’t anything in the Mac Excel menus that allows you to turn off the program’s formatting adventures. (The advice about looking in tools applies to Windows but not to Mac). Anybody know? ---
**Author:** ![gigi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a587f6/32.png) [@gigi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gigi)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2006, 9:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/excel-for-mac-how-to-shut-off-autoformatting/348542/5 "2006-03-16T21:21:35Z")
> [@Aeschines](#): > > I just can’t anything in the Mac Excel menus that allows you to turn off the program’s formatting adventures. (The advice about looking in tools applies to Windows but not to Mac). Anybody know? Are you sure about Tools? I haven’t been on a Mac in a while but skimming advice cites seems to imply that Tools is a menu choice, and within that you can check and uncheck “Options”. Looks like there are also steps you can take from within your browser: If you have Microsoft Internet Explorer (Internet Explorer: A Web browser that interprets HTML files, formats them into Web pages, and displays them to the user. You can download Internet Explorer from the Microsoft Web site at [http://www.microsoft.com](http://www.microsoft.com).) 4.0 or later, you can turn off the feature that automatically suggests a match for file names and URLs (Uniform Resource Locator (URL): An address that specifies a protocol (such as HTTP or FTP) and a location of an object, document, World Wide Web page, or other destination on the Internet or an intranet, for example: [http://www.microsoft.com/.)](http://www.microsoft.com/.)) as you type them. This affects entries in the Insert Hyperlink and Open dialog boxes in Microsoft Excel and also URLs in Internet Explorer and any other Microsoft Office programs you have. Start Internet Explorer. On the Tools menu, click Internet Options, and then click the Advanced tab. Under Browsing, clear one of the following check boxes: If you have Internet Explorer 4, clear the Use AutoComplete check box. If you have Internet Explorer 5, clear the Use inline AutoComplete in integrated shell check box. If you have Internet Explorer 6, clear the Use inline AutoComplete check box. –from MS Office Online Help linked within Excel ---
**Author:** ![Aeschines](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aeschines/32/16251_2.png) [@Aeschines](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Aeschines)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2006, 2:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/excel-for-mac-how-to-shut-off-autoformatting/348542/6 "2006-03-17T02:57:35Z")
C’mon, someone has Excel for Mac, someone knows this. No offense to those who have tried to help thus far, but the menus in the Excel version are VERY different. Thanks. ---
**Author:** ![panache45](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/panache45/32/64_2.png) [@panache45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panache45)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2006, 3:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/excel-for-mac-how-to-shut-off-autoformatting/348542/7 "2006-03-17T03:03:15Z")
What OS are you using, and what version of Excel? ---
**Author:** ![gigi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a587f6/32.png) [@gigi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gigi)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2006, 1:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/excel-for-mac-how-to-shut-off-autoformatting/348542/8 "2006-03-17T13:57:54Z")
> [@panache45](#): > > What OS are you using, and what version of Excel? Yes, please, because googling certainly shows plenty of references to the Tools menu in Excel for Mac. ---
**Author:** ![sunfish](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/96bed5/32.png) [@sunfish](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sunfish)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2006, 2:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/excel-for-mac-how-to-shut-off-autoformatting/348542/9 "2006-03-17T14:18:57Z")
This is only happening with URLs, correct? I have Excel 2004, running under OSX 10.3.5. From the menu at the top, select Format \> Style. In the pop-up window, select Style name: Hyperlink, then make whatever modifications you want to the display style. Since I’ve never dinked around with this before on my Mac, it appears that the default style for hyperlinks is something like Verdana 10, underline blue. You must have inherited your formatting from someone else’s modified file. ---
**Author:** ![sunfish](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/96bed5/32.png) [@sunfish](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sunfish)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2006, 2:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/excel-for-mac-how-to-shut-off-autoformatting/348542/10 "2006-03-17T14:21:22Z")
Oh, and there is indeed a Tools Menu in Excel for Mac, right next to the Format Menu, but it’s reserved for things like spell checking, auto-correct, tracking changes, auditing, macros, etc. ---
**Author:** ![gigi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a587f6/32.png) [@gigi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gigi)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2006, 3:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/excel-for-mac-how-to-shut-off-autoformatting/348542/11 "2006-03-17T15:34:46Z")
> [@sunfish](#): > > Oh, and there is indeed a Tools Menu in Excel for Mac, right next to the Format Menu, but it’s reserved for things like spell checking, auto-correct, tracking changes, auditing, macros, etc. And at the bottom, does it have “Customize” and “Options”? ---
**Author:** ![sunfish](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/96bed5/32.png) [@sunfish](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sunfish)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2006, 3:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/excel-for-mac-how-to-shut-off-autoformatting/348542/12 "2006-03-17T15:53:29Z")
gigi, the bottom of the Tools menu in the version I have has Customize \> Customize Toolbars/Menus… \> Customize Formatting Palette… \> Customize Keyboard… and Wizard \> Lookup… \> Conditional Sum… The customize options here relate to what buttons you want to have appear in the toolbars, etc. They don’t offer any options for actual formatting of cells, which is handled under the Format menu Format \> AutoFormat… \> Conditional Formatting… \> Style… ---
**Author:** ![sunfish](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/96bed5/32.png) [@sunfish](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sunfish)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2006, 4:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/excel-for-mac-how-to-shut-off-autoformatting/348542/13 "2006-03-17T16:00:32Z")
> [@sunfish](#): > > Format \> AutoFormat… > \> Conditional Formatting… > \> Style… I should mention that those menu items are in addition to the usual Cells/Row/Column/Sheet formatting functions. ---
**Author:** ![gigi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a587f6/32.png) [@gigi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gigi)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2006, 4:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/excel-for-mac-how-to-shut-off-autoformatting/348542/14 "2006-03-17T16:14:12Z")
> [@sunfish](#): > > The customize options here relate to what buttons you want to have appear in the toolbars, etc. They don’t offer any options for actual formatting of cells, which is handled under the Format menu Yep; I thought that Customize was the second-to-last choice and that Options was last but it doesn’t sound that way! ---
**Author:** ![panache45](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/panache45/32/64_2.png) [@panache45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panache45)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2006, 4:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/excel-for-mac-how-to-shut-off-autoformatting/348542/15 "2006-03-17T16:27:17Z")
> [@Aeschines](#): > > C’mon, someone has Excel for Mac, someone knows this. > > No offense to those who have tried to help thus far, but the menus in the Excel version are VERY different. > > Thanks. 1. We are all, apparently, using “Excel for Mac.” 2. Since you understand that “the menus in the Excel version are VERY different,” why haven’t you told us which version you’re using? 3. If you’re asking people for help with a problem, how do you expect us to help without the relevent facts? ---
**Author:** ![Aeschines](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aeschines/32/16251_2.png) [@Aeschines](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Aeschines)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2006, 2:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/excel-for-mac-how-to-shut-off-autoformatting/348542/16 "2006-03-18T02:24:27Z")
Thanks, **sunfish** , you answered my question in quite a skillful, succint, and polite manner.