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: Altering the Displayed Format of Numbers to the Nearest 100.

Altering the Displayed Format of Numbers to the Nearest 100

Written by Allen Wyatt (last updated June 5, 2021)
This tip applies to Excel 2007, 2010, 2013, 2016, 2019, and 2021


Frank asked if there is a way, using a custom number format, to round the display of numbers to the nearest 10, 100, etc., without affecting the original numbers.

The answer is that there is a way, and there isn't a way. (Don't you love those answers?) There are custom number formats that allow you to round the display to the nearest thousand or the nearest million, as follows:

[<=500] "0";#,"000"
[<=500000] "0";#,,"000000"

The first format will round to the nearest thousand, and the second will round to the nearest million. If you are looking for a custom format that will round to some other power of 10, you are out of luck, however. In those instances, the best solution may be to simply create another worksheet that uses formulas for rounding and uses the contents of the original worksheet as the source.

ExcelTips is your source for cost-effective Microsoft Excel training. This tip (10781) 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: Altering the Displayed Format of Numbers to the Nearest 100.

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. ...

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