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1. Select the cell (cell: A box formed by the intersection of a row and column in a worksheet or a table, in which you enter information.), range (range: Two or more cells on a sheet. The cells in a range can be adjacent or nonadjacent.) of cells, text, or characters (character: A letter, number, punctuation mark, or symbol.) that you want to format.

   How to select a cell, a range, or text

   To select	Do this
   The contents of a cell	If the option to edit directly in a cell is turned on, double-click the cell, and then select the contents of the cell. If the option to edit directly in a cell is turned off, select the cell, and then select the contents of the cell in the formula bar. You can also press F2 to edit the active cell, use the arrow keys to position the insertion point and then press SHIFT+ARROW KEY to select the contents.
   A single cell	Click the cell, or press the arrow keys to move to the cell.
   A range (range: Two or more cells on a sheet. The cells in a range can be adjacent or nonadjacent.) of cells	Click the first cell in the range, and then drag to the last cell, or hold down SHIFT while you press the arrow keys to extend the selection. You can also select the first cell in the range and then press F8 to extend the selection by using the arrow keys.
   A large range of cells	Click the first cell in the range, and then hold down SHIFT while you click the last cell in the range. You can scroll to make the last cell visible.
   All cells on a worksheet	Click the Select All button. To select the entire worksheet, you can also press CTRL+A. Note  If the worksheet contains data, CTRL+A selects the current region. Pressing CTRL+A a second time selects the entire worksheet.
   Nonadjacent cells or cell ranges	Select the first cell or range of cells, and then hold down CTRL while you select the other cells or ranges. You can also select the first cell or range of cells and then press SHIFT+F8 to add another nonadjacent cell or range to the selection. Note  You cannot cancel the selection of a cell or range of cells in a nonadjacent selection without canceling the entire selection.
   An entire row or column	Click the row or column heading. Row heading  Column heading  You can also select cells in a row or column by selecting the first cell and then pressing CTRL+SHIFT+ARROW KEY (RIGHT ARROW or LEFT ARROW for rows, UP ARROW or DOWN ARROW for columns). Note  If the row or column contains data, CTRL+SHIFT+ARROW KEY selects the row or column to the last used cell. Pressing CTRL+SHIFT+ARROW KEY a second time selects the entire row or column.
   Adjacent rows or columns	Drag across the row or column headings. Or select the first row or column; then hold down SHIFT while you select the last row or column.
   Nonadjacent rows or columns	Click the column or row heading of the first row or column in your selection; then hold down CTRL while you click the column or row headings of other rows or columns that you want to add to the selection.
   More or fewer cells than the active selection	Hold down SHIFT while you click the last cell that you want to include in the new selection. The rectangular range between the active cell (active cell: The selected cell in which data is entered when you begin typing. Only one cell is active at a time. The active cell is bounded by a heavy border.) and the cell that you click becomes the new selection.

   Note  To cancel a selection of cells, click any cell on the worksheet.

2. On the Formatting toolbar (toolbar: A bar with buttons and options that you can use to carry out commands. To display a toolbar, point to Toolbars on the View menu. If you don't see the button you want, click the arrows at the right end of the toolbar.), do the following:
   • To change the font (font: A graphic design applied to all numerals, symbols, and alphabetic characters. Also called type or typeface. Arial and Courier New are examples of fonts. Fonts usually come in different sizes, such as 10 point, and various styles, such as bold.), click the font that you want in the Font box .
   • To change the font size, click the font size that you want in the Font Size box .

   Tip   If the Formatting toolbar is not displayed, point to Toolbars on the View menu, and then click Formatting.

Notes

• Small-caps (small caps: A format that makes lowercase text appear as capital letters in a reduced font size. Small caps formatting does not affect numbers, punctuation, nonalphabetic characters, or uppercase letters.) and all-caps font options are not available in Excel. For a similar effect, you can choose a font that includes only capital letters.
• If some of the data that you entered in a cell isn't visible, and you want to display that data without specifying a different font size, click Cells on the Format menu and then, on the Alignment tab, do one of the following:
  • If a small amount of data isn't visible, select the Shrink to fit check box.
  • If a large amount of data isn't visible, select the Wrap text check box.
• You can change the default (default: A predefined setting. You can accept the default option settings, or you can change them to suit your own preferences.) font and font size that are used in new workbooks. On the Tools menu, click Options. On the General tab, click a font in the Standard font box, and then specify a font size in the Size box. In order to begin using the new default font and font size, you must restart Excel. The new default font and font size are used only in new workbooks that you create after you restart Excel; existing workbooks are not affected.