Excel 2010 Just the Steps For Dummies
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Excel 2010 includes several ways to format the fonts in your worksheets. You can change the font face, font size, and font color using the commands in the Font group on the Home tab.

You can make additional font-related changes by using the Font tab in the Format Cells dialog box. To access these settings, click the Font dialog box launcher (that little icon in the lower-right corner of the Font group on the Home tab).

Changing the font or font attributes

Follow these steps to change the font, font size, and font attributes:

  1. Select the cells you want to format.

  2. On the Home tab, open the Font drop-down menu and select a font.

    As you hover your mouse over a font face, Excel's Live Preview feature displays the selected cells in the different fonts.

    Use the Font drop-down list to choose another font face.
    Use the Font drop-down list to choose another font face.

  3. In the Font group of the Home tab, click the Font Size arrow and select a font size.

    You can choose another size besides those listed by simply typing the desired font size in the Font Size box.

    If you want to quickly go up or down a font size, click the Increase Font Size or Decrease Font Size button in the Font group.

  4. In the Font group of the Home tab, click a button to apply a font attribute.

    The Bold, Italic and Underline buttons are toggle switches — click the button once to turn the attribute on, and click it again to turn it off:

    • Bold (or Ctrl+B)

    • Italic (or Ctrl+I)

    • Underline (or Ctrl+U)

The default underline style is a single underline. Click the Underline button down arrow to choose Double Underline. Or, choose additional underline options through the Font dialog box launcher, which displays the Format Cells dialog box. Underline options appear on the Font tab.

Changing the font color

To change the color of a font, follow these steps:

  1. Select the cells you want to format.

  2. In the Font group of the Home tab, click the Font Color drop-down arrow and select a color.

    If you hover the mouse over a color, Excel's Live Preview feature shows you the selected cells in that font color. Click More Colors to display the Colors dialog box from which you can select additional colors as well as create your own custom color.

    Spice up your worksheet by changing font colors.
    Spice up your worksheet by changing font colors.

About This Article

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About the book author:

Diane Koers owns and operates All Business Service, a software training and consulting business formed in 1988, that services the central Indiana area. Her area of expertise has long been in the word-processing, spreadsheet, and graphics areas of computing. She also provides training and support for Peachtree Accounting Software. Diane's authoring experience includes over 40 books on topics, such as PC security, Microsoft Windows, Microsoft Office, Microsoft Works, WordPerfect, Paint Shop Pro, Lotus SmartSuite, Quicken, Microsoft Money, and Peachtree Accounting. Many of these titles have been translated into other languages, such as French, Dutch, Bulgarian, Spanish, and Greek. She has also developed and written numerous training manuals for her clients.
Diane and her husband enjoy spending their free time fishing, traveling, and playing with their four grandsons and their Yorkshire Terrier.

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