Please Note: This article is written for users of the following Microsoft Excel versions: 2007, 2010, 2013, 2016, 2019, 2021, and Excel in Microsoft 365. If you are using an earlier version (Excel 2003 or earlier), this tip may not work for you. For a version of this tip written specifically for earlier versions of Excel, click here: Changing Font Sizes.

Changing Font Sizes

Written by Allen Wyatt (last updated December 16, 2023)

Excel specifies the size of fonts in points, a unit of measurement typically used in typesetting. A point is equal to approximately 1/72 of an inch. To change the size of a font used in a selected cell or for information selected within a cell, you use the Home tab of the ribbon. In the Font group you'll notice the Font Size tool. If you click on the arrow to the right of this tool you are presented with a drop-down list of point sizes you can specify for the current font.

To pick a point size, simply scroll through the list and choose the one you want. Click your mouse on the point size, and your text is updated. You are not limited to choosing a point size from those in the list, however. Excel allows you to specify any font size between 1 and 409 points. (This depends, of course, on the capabilities of your printer.) You can use the keyboard to enter, in the Font Size tool, any point size (or fractional point size to the nearest half point) desired. For instance, if you type 21.4, Excel increases the point size to 21.5. It is kind of fun to play around with various fractional point sizes to see how Excel modifies them.

ExcelTips is your source for cost-effective Microsoft Excel training. This tip (8071) applies to Microsoft Excel 2007, 2010, 2013, 2016, 2019, 2021, and Excel in Microsoft 365. You can find a version of this tip for the older menu interface of Excel here: Changing Font Sizes.

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

Creating Venn Diagrams with Excel Data

A common way of representing data is to use a Venn diagram. Unfortunately, Excel doesn't have a precise way of creating ...

Discover More

Understanding Lists

When designing documents there are two types of lists commonly used: numbered lists and bulleted lists. This tip ...

Discover More

Displaying All the Files in a Folder using Explorer

Displaying all the files a folder contains is an easy task in Windows. One easy way to do it is by using the Windows ...

Discover More

Create Custom Apps with VBA! Discover how to extend the capabilities of Office 365 applications with VBA programming. Written in clear terms and understandable language, the book includes systematic tutorials and contains both intermediate and advanced content for experienced VB developers. Designed to be comprehensive, the book addresses not just one Office application, but the entire Office suite. Check out Mastering VBA for Microsoft Office 365 today!

More ExcelTips (ribbon)

Indenting Cell Contents

Excel allows you to apply several types of alignments to cells. One type of alignment allows you to indent cell contents ...

Discover More

Determining If a Cell is Bold

Want to figure out if the text in a cell is bold? The best approach is to use your own user-defined function, as ...

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.

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 six minus 5?

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.