Aligning Information


SpeedFormatting doesn't always accomplish everything you want, so you might choose to manually format your spreadsheet. One of the simplest techniques you can use to improve the appearance of your spreadsheet is to align information.

In Figure 8.4, Quattro Pro has assigned the default left alignment to text and the default right alignment to numbers. The appearance of the spreadsheet would be improved if the column headings (January, February, March, and Total) were either centered above the numbers or right-aligned. Because I prefer right-alignment, I'll show you how to right-align the text in cells B4.E4; if you prefer centering, you can use the technique I describe to center the information.

Figure 8.4. If the column headings containing the month names were right-aligned over the data, the spreadsheet would look better.


You may have noticed that the numbers don't align in columns B, C, D, and E. Typically, you align numbers on their decimal points, and Quattro Pro doesn't use alignment to accomplish this goal. Quattro Pro uses cell formatting, which I'll talk about later in this chapter, in the section "Applying Numeric Formatting to Cells."


To change the alignment of a cell or group of cells, select the cells you want to align (in this example, I selected B4.E4). Then, open the Format menu and click Selection Properties. In the Active Cells dialog box that appears (see Figure 8.5), click the Alignment tab.

Figure 8.5. Use this dialog box to set alignment for selected cells.


In the Horizontal Alignment section, click the Right option. Notice that you can preview the appearance of the proposed change in the lower-right corner of the dialog box. Click OK, and Quattro Pro applies the alignment formatting (see Figure 8.6).

Figure 8.6. The spreadsheet looks better after aligning the column titles to match the numeric alignment of the data in the columns.





Absolute Beginner's Guide to Quattro Pro X3
Absolute Beginners Guide to Quattro Pro X3
ISBN: 0789734265
EAN: 2147483647
Year: 2007
Pages: 128
Authors: Elaine Marmel

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