Lining Up Dollar Amounts

[Marie FP]

I have set up a Word table that includes cells where the user will be
entering dollar amounts in a column. How can I format the cells so that the
dollar amounts line up with the decimal point? In other words, can Word
cells be formatted so that numbers automatically are entered from right to
left (similar to Excel)? Thanks much! -MP

 

[grammatim]

You could make the paragraph alignment Flush Right, and then your
decimal points will line up as long as every entry has a point and
some cents (you have to include ,00); if you always have a decimal
point but don't always have cents, you could set a Decimal Tab (but
then you'd have to type the tab and type the point even if there were
no cents, and that would look funny; if you're going to type .00 you
might as well use the first method and not have to type the tab).

 

[Marie FP]

Thanks, grammatim. This worked perfectly!

 

[Suzanne S. Barnhill]

you could set a Decimal Tab (but

then you'd have to type the tab and type the point even if there were
no cents, and that would look funny; if you're going to type .00 you
might as well use the first method and not have to type the tab).

You do not need to include a decimal point. A decimal tab aligns numbers on
the first non-numeric character in a number series (not counting the
thousands separator). See Figure 10 in
http://sbarnhill.mvps.org/WordFAQs/NumberAlignment.htm. I agree, though,
that in columns of currency, if any item has cents, all should have them.

 

[grammatim]

Which one, the right-justify or the decimal tab?

Thanks, grammatim. This worked perfectly!

 

[grammatim]

I didn't know that -- but in a list of prices, there wouldn't be such
a character.

In FrameMaker you can specify any character at all for the decimal tab
to line up on -- can you do that in Word?

 

[Suzanne S. Barnhill]

No, alas, you can't specify the alignment character as you can in
WordPerfect, but it will work with most non-numeric characters; for example,
it will align times (hours and minutes) on the colon.

My initial point, however, was that it will align decimal amounts on the
place where the decimal point would be if there were one.

 

[Marie FP]

The right justify. I also formatted the cell to round to the nearest dollar,
and the right justification worked whether a decimal was typed or not.

 

[jdsjones]

I've found that in a table, or a specified column, if you left align the
column, clear all tabs, and then set a decimal tab, you do not have to use
the tab key, the numbers will line up at the decimal tab. I normall insert
my dollar signs in a separate column so they all line up.

 

[Marie FP]

Thank you, jds. I'll experiment with this one, too!

 

[Suzanne S. Barnhill]

That's one of the reasons I love decimal tabs (I create a lot of tables with
dollar amounts). Note, however, that if you add any other tab stops (or even
a paragraph indent) in the same table cell, you'll have to use tab
characters (Ctrl+Tab for both).

 

[Marie FP]

That's good to know! MP

That's one of the reasons I love decimal tabs (I create a lot of tables with
dollar amounts). Note, however, that if you add any other tab stops (or even
a paragraph indent) in the same table cell, you'll have to use tab
characters (Ctrl+Tab for both).

--
Suzanne S. Barnhill
Microsoft MVP (Word)
Words into Type
Fairhope, Alabama USA

 

[Suzanne S. Barnhill]

It can be very puzzling. The extra bit about paragraph (left) indents just
came up the other day, and I find that especially odd.