You can enter values as whole numbers, decimals, percentages, or dates. You can enter values using the numbers on the top row of your keyboard, or by pressing your Num Lock key, the numeric keypad on the right. When you enter a date or the time of day, Excel automatically recognizes these entries (if entered in an acceptable format) as numeric values and changes the cell 's format to a default date or time format. You can also change the way values, dates or times of day are shown. Enter a Value -
| Click the cell where you want to enter a value. | -
| Type a value. | -
| Press Enter, or click the Enter button on the formula bar. | Enter a Date or Time -
To enter a date, type the date using a slash (/) or a hyphen (-) between the month, day, and year in a cell or on the formula bar. To enter a time, type the hour based on a 12- hour clock, followed by a colon (:), followed by the minute, followed by a space, and ending with an "a" or a "p" to denote A.M. or P.M. -
| Press Enter, or click the Enter button on the formula bar. | Did You Know? You can use the numeric keypad to enter numbers . Make sure NUM appears in the lower-right corner of the status bar. before you begin using the numbers. | Change Date or Time Format -
| Click the cell that contains the date format you want to change. | -
| Click the Format menu, and then click Cells . | -
| If necessary, click the Number tab. | -
| Click Date. | -
| Click the date or time format. | -
| Click OK. | Did You Know? You can simplify data entry . Enter values as simply as possible to make data entry quicker. For example, to enter the value "10.00" simply type "10". Use the Cells command on the Format menu to format your cell entries with decimal places, commas, dollar signs, and other formatting attributes. | |