Please Note: This article is written for users of the following Microsoft Excel versions: 2007, 2010, 2013, 2016, 2019, and 2021. 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: Converting Numbers Into Words.
Written by Allen Wyatt (last updated March 12, 2022)
This tip applies to Excel 2007, 2010, 2013, 2016, 2019, and 2021
There are times when it is beneficial, or even mandatory, to spell numbers out. For instance, you may want to spell out "1234" as "one thousand two hundred thirty four." The following macro, NumberToWords, does just that. It is rather long, but it has to do a lot of checking to put together the proper string. There are actually five macros in the set; the four besides NumberToWords are called by NumberToWords to do the actual conversion.
NumberToWords will convert any number between 0 and 999,999. To use it, simply select the cell (or cells) whose contents you want to convert, then run it. You should note that the cells must contain whole number values, not formulas that result in whole number values. The actual contents of the compliant cells are changed from the original number to a text representation of that number. In other words, this is not a format change, but a value change for those cells.
Please Note:
This article is written for users of the following Microsoft Excel versions: 2007, 2010, 2013, 2016, 2019, and 2021. 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:
Sub NumberToWords()
Dim rngSrc As Range
Dim lMax As Long
Dim lCtr As Long
Dim bNCFlag As Boolean
Dim sTitle As String, sMsg As String
Dim vCVal As Variant
Dim lNumber As Long, sWords As String
Set rngSrc = ActiveSheet.Range(ActiveWindow.Selection.Address)
lMax = rngSrc.Cells.Count
bNCFlag = False
For lCtr = 1 To lMax
vCVal = rngSrc.Cells(lCtr).Value
sWords = ""
If IsNumeric(vCVal) Then
If vCVal <> CLng(vCVal) Then
bNCFlag = True
Else
lNumber = CLng(vCVal)
Select Case lNumber
Case 0
sWords = "Zero"
Case 1 To 999999
sWords = SetThousands(lNumber)
Case Else
bNCFlag = True
End Select
End If
Else
bNCFlag = True
End If
If sWords > "" Then
rngSrc.Cells(lCtr) = sWords
End If
Next lCtr
If bNCFlag Then
sTitle = "lNumberToWords Macro"
sMsg = "Not all cells converted. May not be whole number or may be too large."
MsgBox sMsg, vbExclamation, sTitle
End If
End Sub
Private Function SetOnes(ByVal lNumber As Integer) As String
Dim OnesArray(9) As String
OnesArray(1) = "One"
OnesArray(2) = "Two"
OnesArray(3) = "Three"
OnesArray(4) = "Four"
OnesArray(5) = "Five"
OnesArray(6) = "Six"
OnesArray(7) = "Seven"
OnesArray(8) = "Eight"
OnesArray(9) = "Nine"
SetOnes = OnesArray(lNumber)
End Function
Private Function SetTens(ByVal lNumber As Integer) As String
Dim TensArray(9) As String
TensArray(1) = "Ten"
TensArray(2) = "Twenty"
TensArray(3) = "Thirty"
TensArray(4) = "Fourty"
TensArray(5) = "Fifty"
TensArray(6) = "Sixty"
TensArray(7) = "Seventy"
TensArray(8) = "Eighty"
TensArray(9) = "Ninety"
Dim TeensArray(9) As String
TeensArray(1) = "Eleven"
TeensArray(2) = "Twelve"
TeensArray(3) = "Thirteen"
TeensArray(4) = "Fourteen"
TeensArray(5) = "Fifteen"
TeensArray(6) = "Sixteen"
TeensArray(7) = "Seventeen"
TeensArray(8) = "Eighteen"
TeensArray(9) = "Nineteen"
Dim iTemp1 As Integer
Dim iTemp2 As Integer
Dim sTemp As String
iTemp1 = Int(lNumber / 10)
iTemp2 = lNumber Mod 10
sTemp = TensArray(iTemp1)
If (iTemp1 = 1 And iTemp2 > 0) Then
sTemp = TeensArray(iTemp2)
Else
If (iTemp1 > 1 And iTemp2 > 0) Then
sTemp = sTemp + " " + SetOnes(iTemp2)
End If
End If
SetTens = sTemp
End Function
Private Function SetHundreds(ByVal lNumber As Integer) As String
Dim iTemp1 As Integer
Dim iTemp2 As Integer
Dim sTemp As String
iTemp1 = Int(lNumber / 100)
iTemp2 = lNumber Mod 100
If iTemp1 > 0 Then sTemp = SetOnes(iTemp1) + " Hundred"
If iTemp2 > 0 Then
If sTemp > "" Then sTemp = sTemp + " "
If iTemp2 < 10 Then sTemp = sTemp + SetOnes(iTemp2)
If iTemp2 > 9 Then sTemp = sTemp + SetTens(iTemp2)
End If
SetHundreds = sTemp
End Function
Private Function SetThousands(ByVal lNumber As Long) As String
Dim iTemp1 As Integer
Dim iTemp2 As Integer
Dim sTemp As String
iTemp1 = Int(lNumber / 1000)
iTemp2 = lNumber Mod 1000
If iTemp1 > 0 Then sTemp = SetHundreds(iTemp1) + " Thousand"
If iTemp2 > 0 Then
If sTemp > "" Then sTemp = sTemp + " "
sTemp = sTemp + SetHundreds(iTemp2)
End If
SetThousands = sTemp
End Function
ExcelTips is your source for cost-effective Microsoft Excel training. This tip (8351) applies to Microsoft Excel 2007, 2010, 2013, 2016, 2019, and 2021. You can find a version of this tip for the older menu interface of Excel here: Converting Numbers Into Words.
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2025-01-01 09:38:50
Kiwerry
Just a quick language-related aside:
On revisiting this tip I noticed that the text version of 40 is given as "fourty". This struck me as odd, so I did some searching and found that the correct spelling is "forty" - and it doesn't seem to be yet another English vs American difference.
The fact that, by contrast, the text version of 14 is "fourteen" is one of the quirks of the language.
Fortunately any change to the coding would be quick and simple.
2022-03-25 12:26:41
kiwerry
Thanks, Peter 👍
2022-03-23 06:43:01
Peter
@Kiwerry: If you are interested in Word fields, look at http://www.gmayor.com/formatting_word_fields.htm
2022-03-23 04:15:23
Kiwerry
@Mike: Thanks for the heads-up - this time it worked.
2022-03-22 04:24:54
Mike
@Kiwerry: It might be worth one more try - I just tested it and it was back.
2022-03-21 06:39:44
Kiwerry
@Peter: Thanks very much for the useful link to an interesting article😉 Some of the figures seem to be missing and the link to a PDF version didn't work but most of the important information is still there. I'll be trying that out.
2022-03-20 06:07:30
Peter
Coincidentally, today I discovered that Word can convert dollar amounts to words: { tfValue1 \*Dollartext \*FirstCap } (
from ttps://www.techrepublic.com/article/10-power-tricks-for-using-word-field-switches/)
2022-03-20 05:19:09
Kiwerry
@Mike: Thanks for the hint, but when I tried it the result was an error. I tried another browser, checked that I had not made a mistake selecting the text in your link, same. Tried removing everything after ".com" and took a look around the site and used its search. No success. My impression was that the source code has been removed and the functionality is now part of a package called kutools, which you have to buy.
2022-03-19 05:07:11
Mike
Another excellent version can be found here.
https://www.extendoffice.com/documents/excel/1446-excel-convert-change-numbers-to-words.html
Much longer than Willy Vanhaelen's version, but handles 15 digit precision, including decimals, so up to 999 Trillion and down to 0.000000000000001
2022-03-18 11:13:50
Sandeep Kothari
Woolley
thanks.
2022-03-18 10:30:19
J. Woolley
You can download an early version of "spell dollars" from Chapter 9 of John Walkenbach's "Excel 2013 Power Programming with VBA." It is easy to customize. See
https://www.wiley.com/en-us/Excel+2013+Power+Programming+with+VBA-p-9781118490396#downloads-section
2022-03-18 10:05:13
Sandeep Kothari
Kimberly, Pl share your code. my email id is sandeepkothari2010@gmail.com.
thanks.
2022-03-17 11:39:51
Willy Vanhaelen
Interesting macro that performs this very complex operation impeccably. It is a school book example of defining arrays and how to populate them but this makes it very long however.
Thinking that a user defined function (UDF) version would be more useful I decided to adapt it and while doing so I found that, especially the three functions, are prone to compaction. This can be achieved by using the Split method which makes the making of the arrays considerably shorter.
Declaring the sTemp, iTemp1 and iTemp2 variables in each function, assigning the result of a rather simple formula like "lNumber Mod 10" to them and then use it only a few times is rather cumbersome. In this case I prefer to put those formulas directly where they are needed. This also makes easier to understand the working of the function:
SetOnces(Nr Mod 10) is easier than SetOnes(iTemp2). What is it again what iTemp2 contains? :-)
Here is the result of my work (only half the size of the macro):
Function Number2Words(Nr)
If Not IsNumeric(Nr) Then GoTo wrong
If Nr <> CLng(Nr) Then GoTo wrong
Nr = CLng(Nr)
Select Case Nr
Case 0: Number2Words = "Zero"
Case 1 To 999999: Number2Words = SetThousands(Nr)
Case Else: GoTo wrong
End Select
Exit Function
wrong:
Number2Words = "Argument must be a positive integer max. 999999"
End Function
Private Function SetOnes(ByVal Nr As Integer) As String
SetOnes = Split("0 One Two Three Four Five Six Seven Eight Nine")(Nr)
End Function
Private Function SetTens(ByVal Nr As Integer) As String
If Nr > 10 And Nr < 20 Then
SetTens = Split("0 Eleven Twelve Thirteen Fourteen Fifteen" _
& " Sixteen Seventeen Eighteen Nineteen")(Nr - 10)
Else
SetTens=Split("0 Ten Twenty Thirty Fourty Fifty Sixty Seventy Eighty Ninety")(Nr\10)
If Nr Mod 10 > 0 Then SetTens = SetTens & " " & SetOnes(Nr Mod 10)
End If
End Function
Private Function SetHundreds(ByVal Nr As Integer) As String
If Nr \ 100 Then SetHundreds = SetOnes(Nr \ 100) & " Hundred"
If Nr Mod 100 > 0 Then
If SetHundreds > "" Then SetHundreds = SetHundreds & " "
If Nr Mod 100 < 10 Then SetHundreds = SetHundreds & SetOnes(Nr Mod 100)
If Nr Mod 100 > 9 Then SetHundreds = SetHundreds & SetTens(Nr Mod 100)
End If
End Function
Private Function SetThousands(ByVal Nr As Long) As String
If Nr \ 1000 > 0 Then SetThousands = SetHundreds(Nr \ 1000) & " Thousand"
If Nr Mod 1000 > 0 Then
If SetThousands > "" Then SetThousands = SetThousands & " "
SetThousands = SetThousands & SetHundreds(Nr Mod 1000)
End If
End Function
To use this UDF enter either =Number2Words(1234) in any cell or if cell A1 contains a number you can enter in cell B2 =Number2Words(A1).
2022-03-13 06:33:59
Kiwerry
@J Woolley: thanks for the pointer, I'll take a look.
Pity there seems to be no way to use User Defined Functions in Word as well.
2022-03-12 11:05:16
J. Woolley
My Excel Toolbox includes the following functions:
SpellDecimal(Amount)
SpellDollars(Amount)
SpellOrdinal(Amount)
Amount can have up to 15 significant digits.
Here are examples results for Amount=123.456:
One Hundred Twenty-Three point Four Five Six
One Hundred Twenty-Three & 46/100 Dollars
One Hundred Twenty-Third
See https://sites.google.com/view/MyExcelToolbox/
2022-03-12 08:35:17
Kiwerry
Thanks for yet another useful tool, Allen
I did some tweaking so that it can handle numbers between -999999 and + 999999 (as is it doesn't translate negative numbers), and used your sub as the basis for a complementary function which may be used as a user-defined function.
I also added some coding to check the application language ID and add the word "and" for UK, South African, New Zealand, Australian and Irish installations. This so that, for example, 123 translates to "One Hundred and Twenty Three"
If anyone is interested in the code leave a comment here and I'll post it.
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