1.9 Displaying Decimal Places

You have more than one option when it comes to seeing only whole numbers with no decimal places, or seeing as many decimal places as you desire. One way is to round the number, which changes the value in the cell to be a rounded number. An alternative way which is better if you want to keep the exact value in the cell, but only see limited decimal places (or no decimal places) is to use the Increase Decimal or Decrease Decimal commands in Excel. This approach shows you the number of decimal places you want to see without changing the data value in the cell.

The image below shows how to do this. On the left, the value in cell C5 shows $467.64. If you want to change this so it shows only a whole number, $468, you can click the Decrease Decimal option in the Number section of the command ribbon where the arrow is pointing. Click this once to show one less decimal place and click it again to show one more less resulting in a whole number. The reverse is also possible. The image on the right shows how to show more decimal places by using the Increase Decimal button. Clicking this button twice will change the value from $468 to $467.64. Remember that if you rounded this number previously, you will no longer see the actual value since the data in the cell would have changed.