How to create fomat

[Question Boy]

Hello,

I created a simple 2 column table. In the 1st column are a listing of
categories and in the second is the financials for each category. Something
like

Income $160 832
Expense (39 457)

My question how can I align the currency value so that they align
right-handed (omitting the parenthesis)? For instance in the example above
align it so that the 2 appears directly above the 7. As it stands right now,
the 2 aligns with the ), which make it harder to read. Basically the format
use when creating any financial statement so that it can easily be reviewed.

Thank you for your help,

QB

 

[PJY]

Use a decimal tab

 

[Jay Freedman]

For instructions, see
http://www.word.mvps.org/FAQs/Formatting/SettingTabs.htm. The interesting
sentence in there is this:

"Also, if you set a decimal tab in a table, the cell contents (which must be
left-aligned), will jump to that tab automatically: you don't have to enter
a tab character."

One caveat: if you keep a space in the numbers, the decimal tab will align
the numbers preceding the space, not necessarily the numbers in the units
position. The rule is that the decimal tab aligns at the last character
before any character that isn't "a digit or the character defined as the
thousands separator for your Windows locale". In other words, Word sees the
space character as signaling the end of the number.

--
Regards,
Jay Freedman
Microsoft Word MVP
Email cannot be acknowledged; please post all follow-ups to the newsgroup so
all may benefit.

 

[Suzanne S. Barnhill]

And if a space *is* the thousands separator, then it will fly.