Enforcing a Desired Font

Written by Allen Wyatt (last updated April 29, 2023)
This tip applies to Excel 2007, 2010, 2013, 2016, 2019, 2021, and Excel in Microsoft 365

Bryan has an Excel workbook that is shared in his office. He created the workbook and set the default font, but someone is changing the font. Bryan wonders if he can force the font to his desired font when the workbook is closed.

An easy way to do this is to use the BeforeClose event handler for the workbook. You can have the handler step through each of the worksheets and set the font for all the cells in this manner:

Private Sub Workbook_BeforeClose(Cancel As Boolean)
    Dim s As Worksheet

    For Each s In ActiveWorkbook.Sheets
        s.Cells.Font.Name = "Calibri"
    Next
End Sub

This sets the font to Calibri, but you can change the font name, as necessary. If you need to change other font characteristics, you can modify the event handler to do so:

Private Sub Workbook_BeforeClose(Cancel As Boolean)
    Dim s As Worksheet

    For Each s In ActiveWorkbook.Sheets
        With s.Cells.Font
            .Name = "Calibri"
            .Size = 10
        End With
    Next
End Sub

You'll want to be careful, though, changing too many font characteristics, as you may end up getting rid of some you want to keep, such as bold or italic.

Remember that these macros should be added to the ThisWorkbook object in the Visual Basic Editor.

ExcelTips is your source for cost-effective Microsoft Excel training. This tip (4801) applies to Microsoft Excel 2007, 2010, 2013, 2016, 2019, 2021, and Excel in Microsoft 365.

Author Bio

Allen Wyatt

With more than 50 non-fiction books and numerous magazine articles to his credit, Allen Wyatt is an internationally recognized author. He is president of Sharon Parq Associates, a computer and publishing services company. ...

MORE FROM ALLEN

Printing Hidden Text

One of the formatting attributes you can add to text is to make it "hidden," which means you can control whether it is ...

Discover More

Maintaining Formatting when Refreshing PivotTables

When you refresh the data in a PivotTable, Excel can play havoc with whatever formatting you applied. Here's how to ...

Discover More

Checking the Scope of a Defined Name

When creating a macro to work with the names of defined ranges, you may need to know whether the scope of the name is for ...

Discover More

Program Successfully in Excel! This guide will provide you with all the information you need to automate any task in Excel and save time and effort. Learn how to extend Excel's functionality with VBA to create solutions not possible with the standard features. Includes latest information for Excel 2024 and Microsoft 365. Check out Mastering Excel VBA Programming today!

More ExcelTips (ribbon)

Retaining Formatting After a Paste Multiply

You can use the Paste Special feature in Excel to multiply the values in a range of cells. If you don't want Excel to ...

Discover More

Cannot Use Dotted Diagonal Borders

Excel allows you to apply borders to cells, including with the cells. However, understanding the effects of the borders ...

Discover More

Preventing Automatic Date Formatting Changes

Excel often changes the formatting of a cell based on how it parses what you are entering into that cell. This is ...

Discover More
Subscribe

FREE SERVICE: Get tips like this every week in ExcelTips, a free productivity newsletter. Enter your address and click "Subscribe."

View most recent newsletter.

(Your e-mail address is not shared with anyone, ever.)

Comments

If you would like to add an image to your comment (not an avatar, but an image to help in making the point of your comment), include the characters [{fig}] (all 7 characters, in the sequence shown) in your comment text. You’ll be prompted to upload your image when you submit the comment. Maximum image size is 6Mpixels. Images larger than 600px wide or 1000px tall will be reduced. Up to three images may be included in a comment. All images are subject to review. Commenting privileges may be curtailed if inappropriate images are posted.

What is 7 - 2?

There are currently no comments for this tip. (Be the first to leave your comment—just use the simple form above!)

This Site

Got a version of Excel that uses the ribbon interface (Excel 2007 or later)? This site is for you! If you use an earlier version of Excel, visit our ExcelTips site focusing on the menu interface.

Newest Tips
Subscribe

FREE SERVICE: Get tips like this every week in ExcelTips, a free productivity newsletter. Enter your address and click "Subscribe."

(Your e-mail address is not shared with anyone, ever.)

View the most recent newsletter.

Links and Sharing
OUR COMPANY
OUR PRODUCTS
OUR SITES
 

Copyright © 2026 Sharon Parq Associates, Inc.