Comma Styles

Learning Objectives

  • Change comma style.

At times, you may also wish to use a specific comma style with numbers entered into an Excel worksheet. For example, you may wish “1234” to display as typed or with a comma like “1,234.”

Comma styles are easy to change in Excel using a quick select option in the Number group in the ribbon.

Method 1

When using the Format cell dropdown option from this area, select the “Use 1000 Separator (,)” option to include a comma. You can also choose if you would like any decimal places to be displayed in this same window.

A format cells dialog box is open. In the number tab the category has also been set as number. There is a green arrow pointing at the option to "Use 1000 Separator."

Method 2

The easiest option to include a comma is simply to click on the Comma Style button in the Number group.

When clicking the comma style button, the comma style default is to display numbers with a comma in the thousands place and include two decimal places (Ex: “1200” becomes “1,200.00). This will also change the visible cell styles in the Style” area of the ribbon so you can easily select different options for comma and display format.

Practice question

 

Below are three different options for comma and display format.

  1. Comma: Comma with two decimal points
  2. Comma [0]: Comma with no decimal points
  3. Currency: Comma with two decimal points and a dollar sign

A Microsoft Excel sheet is open with numbers in columns A1 through C4. In column A there is a green number 1 showing how this column has been formatted as a comma with two decimal points. In column B there is an orange 2, this column has been formatted with a comma with no decimal points. In the third column, column C there is a pink 3 showing how this column has been formatted as a comma with two decimal points and a dollar sign.

Practice question