Google Sheets –

Introduction

Managing a spreadsheet with a large amount of content can sometimes be challenging. To improve the readability and organization of your information, you can utilize formatting options in Google Sheets. In this article, we will explore how to modify the size, style, and color of text in your cells, as well as how to adjust text alignment and add borders and background colors.

Formatting Cells

By default, all cells in a new spreadsheet have the same formatting. However, as you build your spreadsheet, you can customize the formatting to enhance the clarity of your data. Let’s say we are using a spreadsheet to plan and organize a garden plot. Here’s how you can modify the formatting of your cells:

To change the font size:

1. Select the cell or cells you want to modify.
2. Locate and select the Font Size button in the toolbar, then choose the desired font size from the drop-down menu (e.g., 14 to make the text larger).
3. The text will change to the new font size.

To change the font:

1. Select the cell or cells you want to modify.
2. Locate and select Format in the toolbar menu.
3. Hover over Font and choose a new font from the drop-down menu (e.g., Georgia).
4. The text will change to the new font.

To change the text color:

1. Select the cell or cells you want to modify.
2. Locate and select the Text color button in the toolbar.
3. Choose the desired text color from the drop-down menu (e.g., red).
4. The text will change to the new color.

To make text bold:

1. Select the text you want to modify.
2. Click the Bold text button or press Ctrl+B (Windows) or Command+B (Mac) on your keyboard.
3. The text will change to bold.

You can also add italics by pressing Ctrl+I (Windows) or Command+I (Mac) and underlining by pressing Ctrl+U (Windows) or Command+U (Mac).

Text Alignment

By default, text in your cells will be aligned to the bottom-left, while numbers will be aligned to the bottom-right. However, you can change the alignment to suit your needs:

To modify the horizontal text alignment:

1. Select the text you want to modify.
2. Click the Horizontal align button in the toolbar, then select the desired alignment from the drop-down menu.
3. The text will realign accordingly.

To modify the vertical text alignment:

1. Select the text you want to modify.
2. Click the Vertical align button in the toolbar, then choose the desired alignment from the drop-down menu.
3. The text will realign accordingly.

You can apply both vertical and horizontal alignment settings to any cell.

Cell Borders and Background Colors

To create clear boundaries and visually distinguish different sections of your spreadsheet, you can add cell borders and background colors:

To add cell borders:

1. Select the cell or cells you want to modify.
2. Click the Borders button and choose the desired border option from the drop-down menu (e.g., all cell borders).
3. The new cell borders will appear.

To change the fill color:

1. Select the cell or cells you want to modify.
2. Locate and select the Fill color button from the toolbar.
3. Select a color from the drop-down menu (e.g., blue).
4. The new fill color will appear.

Formatting Text and Numbers

Google Sheets provides powerful tools to apply specific formatting to text and numbers. Instead of presenting all cell content uniformly, you can use formatting to change the appearance of dates, times, decimals, percentages, currency, and more. For a deeper understanding of number formats, refer to our Understanding Number Formats lesson.

Challenge!

To practice what you’ve learned, follow these steps in our example spreadsheet:

1. Open the example spreadsheet by signing in to Google and clicking File > Make a copy.
2. Select cells A1:E6 and change the horizontal alignment to center and vertical alignment to middle.
3. Select cells B3:E3, bold the text, and add an outside border.
4. Select the merged cell in row 1 and change the font to something other than Arial.
5. With the cell still selected, change the font size to 18 pt and bold the text.
6. For the same cell, change the fill color to purple and the font color to white.
7. When you’re done, your spreadsheet should resemble the example.

For more Google Sheets tips and tricks, visit Mr Reviews.