How to Use Cell Style in Microsoft Excel 2016

Have you ever spent a lot of time formatting your Excel sheet — changing fonts, colors, and borders one by one? Don’t worry, there’s a faster way! Excel 2016 comes with a feature called Cell Styles that can instantly make your data look neat and professional.

In this guide, we’ll go step by step through how to apply, create, and manage cell styles in Microsoft Excel 2016. It’s simple enough even if you’re a beginner.

What Are Cell Styles?

Cell Styles are pre-designed formatting options in Excel. They include font types, colors, borders, and fill effects. Instead of manually styling every cell, you can apply a ready-made design in one click.

For example, you can use styles like Good, Bad, or Neutral to highlight data, or styles like Heading 1 and Heading 2 for titles and section headers.

How to Apply a Built-in Cell Style

Let’s start with the basics — using the built-in cell styles that come with Excel 2016.

• Step 1: Select the cell or range of cells you want to format.
• Step 2: Go to the Home tab on the ribbon.
• Step 3: In the Styles group, click on the Cell Styles dropdown menu.
• Step 4: Choose a style from the gallery, such as Heading 2 or Good.
• Step 5: The selected style is instantly applied to your chosen cells.

That’s it! You’ve just formatted your cells in seconds. Try experimenting with different styles until you find one that matches your worksheet’s theme.

How to Create a Custom Cell Style

If the built-in styles don’t fit your needs, you can create your own custom cell style. Here’s how:

• Step 1: Select any cell that has the formatting you like, or start with a blank one.
• Step 2: Go to the Home tab and click Cell Styles.
• Step 3: Choose New Cell Style.
• Step 4: In the dialog box, type a name for your new style.
• Step 5: Click Format to open the Format Cells window.
• Step 6: Customize your style under tabs like Font, Border, or Fill.
• Step 7: When done, click OK to save and apply your style.

Now your personalized style will appear in the Cell Styles gallery for future use.

How to Manage Cell Styles

Managing cell styles is easy. You can reset, delete, or even copy them from another workbook.

• To revert to default: Select your cells, open the Cell Styles dropdown, and choose Normal.
• To delete a style: Right-click a style in the gallery and click Delete. (Be careful — this removes it from any cells using that style.)
• To merge styles: With both workbooks open, go to Cell Styles → Merge Styles → choose the workbook you want to copy from.

Why Use Cell Styles?

Here are a few reasons why Cell Styles can make your work easier:

• Save time by avoiding repetitive formatting.
• Maintain a consistent and professional look.
• Highlight important data instantly.
• Reduce mistakes when working with large spreadsheets.

5 FAQs About Using Cell Styles in Excel 2016

Conclusion

Using Cell Styles in Excel 2016 is one of the easiest ways to make your spreadsheets look organized and professional. Instead of spending time adjusting each cell’s format, use these ready-made styles or create your own. Once you start using them, you’ll wonder how you ever worked without them!