Increase font size within my formula bar

[Dean]

I finally replaced my old CRT style monitor whose brightness had gotten
really bad with a 19" flat panel. I didn't realize until I'd gotten it home
that it is a widescreen one and am not sure if that is good or bad - any
thoughts, given that most of what I create is delivered to end users who may
not have widescreens?. I am older and often need reading glasses though, by
sitting aways from my monitor and playing with settings, I can usually avoid
using them. I actually prefer the 800 by 600 display resolution but, on
the new monitor, I really notice some fuzziness in the characters! Since
95% of what I do is in EXCEL, I have a few questions to ask this forum:

The monitor recommended 1140 by 900 resolution and I am trying to adapt to
that, since it seems to create the sharpest characters, albeit small ones.
I program hairy equations in EXCEL and spend most of my time editing
equations in the formula bar. Though I can easily change the size of the
EXCEL display to suit my tastes, I don't seem to be able to increase the
size of the characters within the formula bar which are too small to read
comfortably - is there a way to do that, short of resetting the display
resolution via the control panel?

Within the worksheet itself, I assume it is a bad idea to use a larger font,
say, 12 or even larger since, if end users view it - and mostly my templates
are used by a few end users - it will not be as sharp. Isn't that right?

I do get confused about what happens when I send my spreadsheets to someone
else, which I almost always do. I assume that, if my screen is wider than
theirs, they will not see all that I do unless they use a different
resolution. But doesn't almost everyone older - most of my end users are
older - use a different resolution anyway? Any thoughts?

When I am getting ready to print, I am never sure about whether WYSIWYG. I
use a lot of borders within my spreadsheets and sometimes the words seem too
wide for the border on my monitor, but may not be on the hard copy. And I
don't want them to be too wide on the monitor of my end users either. I
know I can use print preview but that also seems to not exactly show
everything that prints on hard copy. Are there certain settings that
guarantee that the size I see on the screen is how it will print? It even
seems to vary by which printer I use.

I realize that some of these questions are pretty stupid. If so, the one
about the formula bar is the one that is most important. You can ignore the
rest!

Thanks!
Dean

 

[Tom Ogilvy]

Here are some thoughts you might look into - no guarantees:
go to windows and right click on the background - select options, go to the
appearance tab, select the the font dropdown and see your choices.

I believe this will work for your menus. It didn't work for icons or
formulas in the formula bar.

for the worksheet, go to style under the format menu and redefine the normal
style. If you want that as a default, create a Book.xlt and Sheet.xlt
templates in the templates directory with those settings.

If you don't want to send wide workbooks, then don't fill the screen before
you save them. Make them narrower and then save.

 

[Dean]

I'm not sure what you mean by "go to windows". Is that within EXCEL? If
not, is it for windows XP - I tried clicking on the desktop, but these
options weren't there? In any event, is this the same as control, display,
appearance, then choose font size, either normal, large, or very large? I
did try that.

Are you saying that there is no way to deal with the size of the characters
in the formula bar in EXCEL, other than via resolution changes?

Thanks, Tom!
D

 

[Tom Ogilvy]

Windows desk top, right click, choose properties, then appearance tab.

Just did it and its there.

Yes, going through the control panel is the same.


If that didn't work then In the same place, hit the advanced button and
select menu under ITEM.. Change the settings there for item and font to
make them bigger.

Change other options as appropriate.

 

[Dean]

Sorry. I am confused by your answer, Tom. Are you confirming that there is
no way to adjust the size of the character in EXCEL's formula bar, other
than by changing the resolution?

 

[Tom Ogilvy]

No, I didn't say anything like that. the term resolution was never entered
in anything I have typed today. You must be thinking of someone else.

So NOT in Excel, but in Windows itself:.

What I said is that you can change the size of menus in all applications by
doing it through the windows control panel => display => appearance tab =>
Advanced button. Under the item dropdown select Menu. Then increase the
font size and also possibly the height of the menu bar itself next to item.

 

[Dave Peterson]

Maybe...

Tools|Options|General Tab|
Change the Standard Font Size to something larger
(make a note of the existing value(s)--just in case)

Then close excel and reopen it.

 

[Mike Middleton]

Dean -

Display Properties | Appearance allows you to change font size for some
global Windows features, but it doesn't seem to affect Excel's formula bar.

Display Properties | Appearance | Advanced allows you to change font size
for specific items, and some of these items affect Excel's display, so you
might want to search for an item that is related to Excel's formula bar
(although I suspect your search may be futile).

Display Properties | Settings allows you to change resolution, which you
want to avoid.

Maybe someone will post a solution for changing Excel's formula bar.

If not, you might want to consider using Excel's formatting toolbar to
increase the font size for a cell temporarily so that it's easy to see, edit
the formula in the cell (by pressing F2 if necessary), and then changing the
font size back to its original size before sharing the workbook with others.
For this approach, a relevant setting is Excel Tools | Options | Edit | Edit
directly in cell.

- Mike
http://www.mikemiddleton.com

 

[Ron Rosenfeld]

I finally replaced my old CRT style monitor whose brightness had gotten
really bad with a 19" flat panel. I didn't realize until I'd gotten it home
that it is a widescreen one and am not sure if that is good or bad - any
thoughts, given that most of what I create is delivered to end users who may
not have widescreens?. I am older and often need reading glasses though, by
sitting aways from my monitor and playing with settings, I can usually avoid
using them. I actually prefer the 800 by 600 display resolution but, on
the new monitor, I really notice some fuzziness in the characters! Since
95% of what I do is in EXCEL, I have a few questions to ask this forum:

The monitor recommended 1140 by 900 resolution and I am trying to adapt to
that, since it seems to create the sharpest characters, albeit small ones.
I program hairy equations in EXCEL and spend most of my time editing
equations in the formula bar. Though I can easily change the size of the
EXCEL display to suit my tastes, I don't seem to be able to increase the
size of the characters within the formula bar which are too small to read
comfortably - is there a way to do that, short of resetting the display
resolution via the control panel?

Perhaps if, instead of editing your formulas in the formula bar, you edited
them in the cells, you could use the ZOOM feature to enlarge the worksheet
display without changing the font size or screen resolution. Check Zoom under
the View menu.


--ron

 

[Dean]

Ok, I guess there was some miscommunication. Sorry!

 

[Dean]

Actually, I didn't think to edit inside the cell using F2. And the good
thing about that is if you simply click the dropdown to, say, 150%, then the
characters within all the cells will appear really big and I don't think
that affects what the end user sees or, if it does, he can easily change it
back to whatever he wants. So, short of a solution to make the character
size bigger within the formula bar, this is a great suggestion, Mike

Thanks!

D

 

[Dean]

Oh and, by the way, I found a 20 inch for the same price as the 19 inch wide
screen and am much happier with it. I like the added height a lot more than
the extra width.

 

[Dean]

I missed your post when I replied to Mike. I noticed this, too. It is a
big help. I think I already have a zoom drop down which I use often, so it
is easy for me.

Thanks!
Dean

 

[Dean]

Wow, that seems to work perfectly though I'm not sure I understand why!

I can set that font size to 14, for example, and the formula bar character
size is very big. Obviously, new files end up starting with a bigger font,
but I can work around that. I seldom create brand new files but rather
enhance or edit old ones. What amazes me is that your solution makes the
formula bar big but doesn't seem to affect anything else within the files
I've already created. Even if I enter data in a new cell, it seems to keep
the font size I already set up for the whole sheet. Even if I insert a new
sheet in the existing file, it still seems to keep the small font I want. I
am surprised this works like that.

Thanks!
Dean