Excel course: Defining singular and plural formats

In this tutorial, you will learn how to effectively handle singular and plural formats in Excel. This is particularly important in controlling and sales, where precise information about time, quantities, and currencies is often crucial. Using a practical Excel file, we will show you how to create custom formats to differentiate between "day" and "days" or "package" and "packages."

Key Findings

• You can automatically display singular and plural forms in Excel.
• Custom formats allow flexible work with numbers and texts.
• Application examples include time information, quantities, and units.

Step-by-Step Guide

Understanding Basics

To apply the concept of singular and plural in Excel, open a prepared Excel file. Ideally, it would be a table displaying various project times and evaluations. The entries must be formatted to correctly display both singular and plural forms.

Access Cell Formatting

To set the formatting, go to the cells you want to adjust. Highlight the cells and then open the cell formatting. You can do this by right-clicking on the highlighted cells or using the keyboard shortcut Ctrl + 1 to directly access the formatting window.

Set Custom Formatting

In the cell formatting, navigate to "More number formats" and select the "Custom" option. Here, you can enter the necessary formulas to create singular and plural forms. The system typically works based on the number and associated texts.

Insert Simple Condition

The basic idea is to use a simple condition (IF). You can do this within square brackets following the syntax. Set a condition like =1 to say: "If the value in the cell is 1, then display 'day'." Otherwise, use the plural form.

Define Format for Different Values

Now further define the number format. For example, for 0 or 0.0, so the output is in line with the correct unit. This means that if your value in the cell is 4.5, "days" will be displayed, while with 1, simply "day" should appear.

Test the Formatting

You can now check if the formatting works as intended. Enter values into the cells and observe if they display the correct singular or plural forms. Repeat this for different units such as days, hours, or packages.

Final Adjustments and Deletion of Auxiliary Columns

Once you have successfully tested the formats, you can delete the original columns if necessary. Keep only the cells you actually want to use in the final result. The adjustments should now show the desired effect: a clearly structured, informative Excel document.

Conclusion and Next Steps

And that's it! You have successfully learned how to work in Excel with custom formats for singular and plural. For further questions or deeper understanding, feel free to use the comments.

In this guide, you have learned how to differentiate between singular and plural in Excel using custom formats. This is especially useful in controlling and sales to provide precise information.