# MS Excel question re: formatting output **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [April 6, 2003, 10:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ms-excel-question-re-formatting-output/166846 "2003-04-06T10:17:48Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 12\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![kasuo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/8c91f0/32.png) [@kasuo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kasuo)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2003, 10:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ms-excel-question-re-formatting-output/166846/1 "2003-04-06T10:17:48Z")
Say I had some fixed values in the following cells: 4 8 3 2 1 7 and I wanted to change all the cells so that they would look like this: 4, 8, 3, 2, 1, 7, How would I go about making this change? TIA. ---
**Author:** ![Caught\_Work](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/919ad9/32.png) [@Caught\_Work](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Caught_Work)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2003, 10:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ms-excel-question-re-formatting-output/166846/2 "2003-04-06T10:41:33Z")
Replace all spaces with ,space or am I missing something? ---
**Author:** ![kasuo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/8c91f0/32.png) [@kasuo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kasuo)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2003, 10:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ms-excel-question-re-formatting-output/166846/3 "2003-04-06T10:49:15Z")
Let me attempt to redraw it: * * * ## |4|8|3| |2|1|7| to * * * ## |4,|8,|3,| |2,|1,|7,| ---
**Author:** ![Odinoneeye](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/97f17d/32.png) [@Odinoneeye](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Odinoneeye)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2003, 11:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ms-excel-question-re-formatting-output/166846/4 "2003-04-06T11:08:21Z")
You can just type in the , but you would lose the mathmatical features of the cells if you wanted to add them together or something of that nature. ---
**Author:** ![kasuo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/8c91f0/32.png) [@kasuo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kasuo)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2003, 11:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ms-excel-question-re-formatting-output/166846/5 "2003-04-06T11:16:28Z")
The mathematical functions are not required for these values. Also, I need to type in cells that span 76x33 so it’s an awful lot of commas. ---
**Author:** ![Early\_Out](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/6f9a4e/32.png) [@Early\_Out](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Early_Out)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2003, 12:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ms-excel-question-re-formatting-output/166846/6 "2003-04-06T12:34:48Z")
In your example (data in cells A1 through C2), just put the following equation in cell D1: =A1&"," Now copy that cell to D1 through F2, and just print columns D through F. ---
**Author:** ![Early\_Out](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/6f9a4e/32.png) [@Early\_Out](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Early_Out)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2003, 12:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ms-excel-question-re-formatting-output/166846/7 "2003-04-06T12:38:18Z")
And, if you now want to replace the contents of columns A through C, mark and copy the new stuff in D through F, put your cursor on cell A1, and do a “paste special…” and choose “values” (if you just do a regular paste, you’ll get reference problems). ---
**Author:** ![jjimm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba8739/32.png) [@jjimm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jjimm)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2003, 12:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ms-excel-question-re-formatting-output/166846/8 "2003-04-06T12:48:18Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Early Out \* > \*\*And, if you now want to replace the contents of columns A through C, mark and copy the new stuff in D through F, put your cursor on cell A1, and do a “paste special…” and choose “values” (if you just do a regular paste, you’ll get reference problems). \*\* Well damn, I’ve been using Excel for 10 years and I never knew this. I’ve always pasted stuff into notepad and then back into Excel. Thanks! ---
**Author:** ![Early\_Out](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/6f9a4e/32.png) [@Early\_Out](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Early_Out)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2003, 12:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ms-excel-question-re-formatting-output/166846/9 "2003-04-06T12:55:04Z")
You’re welcome, **jjimm**! It always pays to spend some time exploring some of the more obscure menu choices; there are all sorts of goodies buried down there! I use “paste values” so often, I’ve put the icon for it on my toolbar (View, Toolbars, Customize, Commands tab, choose Edit, find the icon, which looks like a clipboard with “12” written on it, and drag it up to the toolbar someplace). ---
**Author:** ![OttoDaFe](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ottodafe/32/356_2.png) [@OttoDaFe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OttoDaFe)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2003, 2:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ms-excel-question-re-formatting-output/166846/10 "2003-04-06T14:54:05Z")
Or, if you just want to change the appearance, do this:[ul][li]Highlight the cells in question.[/li][li]Right click, **Format Cells**.[/li][li]On the **Number** tab, select **Custom**.[/li][li]In the **Type** box, enter #",". Vary the number of #s according to the number of digits you want, and don’t forget the quotes around the comma—otherwise Excel will consider it a thousands separator.[/li][li] **OK**.[/li][/ul] ---
**Author:** ![kasuo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/8c91f0/32.png) [@kasuo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kasuo)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2003, 8:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ms-excel-question-re-formatting-output/166846/11 "2003-04-06T20:27:06Z")
Thanks guys! Hey **Otto** , I noticed that when I used the #"," type, it worked for all the non-zero values but only put a comma where the 0 cells used to be. Just letting ya know. ---
**Author:** ![OttoDaFe](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ottodafe/32/356_2.png) [@OttoDaFe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OttoDaFe)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2003, 3:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ms-excel-question-re-formatting-output/166846/12 "2003-04-07T03:59:00Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by kasuo \* > Hey **Otto** , I noticed that when I used the #"," type, it worked for all the non-zero values but only put a comma where the 0 cells used to be. Just letting ya know. Your sample didn’t include any zero values. Try 0"," (or #0",") instead.