Microsoft Excel: Working With Styles

What is a style in Excel?

In Excel, a style is multiple formatting instructions saved under a single name.  For example, I might create a style that is a yellow fill color, a violet border, and a green Times New Roman font. I can give it a snappy name and then apply that style to as many cells in a workbook as I like.

What is the primary benefit?

The big benefit to styles is the ability to make a change to the definition of the style and watch that change affect all cells with that style applied. I might have thousands of cells with the yellow fill colored style mentioned above, and if I decide to change the color to gold or the border to orange, I simply change the definition of the style from yellow to gold and all cells with that style applied change in an instant.

There are just a few built-in styles in Excel; you can access them at Format > Style.

There are a couple of methods for creating custom styles, the most popular is to start with an example of the style.

To create a custom style:

1. Apply the desired formats to a cell
2. Select the cell that has the formats applied
3. From the menu bar, choose Format > Style to open the Style dialog box
4. In the Style Name box, enter a snappy name for your new style (it might already have the word "Normal" there, if so, just replace "Normal" with your snappy new name)
5. Click OK

To apply that style to other cells or ranges:

1. Select the desired cells or ranges
2. Format > Style
3. Use the drop-down to select your custom style
4. Click OK

To modify the definition of a style:

1. Select a cell that has the style applied
2. Format > Style
3. Click the modify button to produce a Format Cells dialog box
4. Make your changes and OK your way out