Please Note: This article is written for users of the following Microsoft Word versions: 97, 2000, 2002, and 2003. If you are using a later version (Word 2007 or later), this tip may not work for you. For a version of this tip written specifically for later versions of Word, click here: Formatting Currency.
Written by Allen Wyatt (last updated October 31, 2020)
This tip applies to Word 97, 2000, 2002, and 2003
Those who are familiar with the rich formatting features of Excel may long for a way to format numbers in a Word table just as easily. For instance, you may have a column of numbers that you want to format as currency, complete with the dollar sign. Unfortunately, Word does not allow you to do this type of formatting directly.
There is a work-around, however. You can use a field to insert any number you want in any format you want. For instance, let's say you have the number 65.78, and you want it formatted as currency in a particular table cell. All you need to do is follow these steps:
You can continue to insert numbers in this way. If you have quite a few of them, you may want to create a macro to automate the process. Entering numbers in this way will not affect your ability to create column totals, as well.
WordTips is your source for cost-effective Microsoft Word training. (Microsoft Word is the most popular word processing software in the world.) This tip (1773) applies to Microsoft Word 97, 2000, 2002, and 2003. You can find a version of this tip for the ribbon interface of Word (Word 2007 and later) here: Formatting Currency.
The First and Last Word on Word! Bestselling For Dummies author Dan Gookin puts his usual fun and friendly candor back to work to show you how to navigate Word 2019. Spend more time working and less time trying to figure it all out! Check out Word 2019 For Dummies today!
Need to make sure that your smaller tables stay on a single page? Here's a handy trick you can use to enforce this rule.
Discover MoreWhen creating a table, you can turn the orientation of the text, within a cell, by ninety degrees in either direction ...
Discover MoreWhen working with tables, you can adjust the height of individual rows. How you go about such adjustments depends on the ...
Discover MoreFREE SERVICE: Get tips like this every week in WordTips, a free productivity newsletter. Enter your address and click "Subscribe."
2024-02-06 05:09:38
Stefan
Thanks, it works flawlessly in Word (Office 365). , but it is rather cumbersome. The formula also works without the "currency" sign, so it will create a number that has the separator ", ".
As some suggest, I rather copy the whole table back to Excel, format it there and copy it back to Word. A shame that after 20 years, Word didn't come up with some formatting help.
2022-10-09 09:29:08
yiming
correction on the previous comment:
for step 3, DON'T key in the parentheses, unless it is a negative number.
2022-10-09 09:17:20
yiming
This will work:
- for step 3, key in the number (65.78), complete with *parentheses*.
- after step 6, right-click in the cell and select update field.
2021-10-05 15:40:56
Matt Smith
Also couldn't get this to work, and, TBH, it's far quicker and easier to just add currency symbols/commas/decimals manually or copy the already formatted table over from excel.
I'm now questioning why I bothered looking this up, or why it was written, but there you go, life's a journey.
2021-03-02 19:24:25
Naive Bae
I cannot get this to work. I follow the instructions indicated and when I hit Shift+F9 at the end, the cell displays as completely empty with a blinking cursor. I tried substituting with the number given in the example above, and it didn't work either.
Got a version of Word that uses the menu interface (Word 97, Word 2000, Word 2002, or Word 2003)? This site is for you! If you use a later version of Word, visit our WordTips site focusing on the ribbon interface.
Visit the WordTips channel on YouTube
FREE SERVICE: Get tips like this every week in WordTips, a free productivity newsletter. Enter your address and click "Subscribe."
Copyright © 2025 Sharon Parq Associates, Inc.
Please Note:
This article is written for users of the following Microsoft Word versions: 97, 2000, 2002, and 2003. If you are using a later version (Word 2007 or later), this tip may not work for you. For a version of this tip written specifically for later versions of Word, click here:
Comments