Forum Discussion
Excel Table Auto Formatting Issue
I have a table in my expenses spreadsheet. To add new rows, I type in the row below the last one in the table and it automatically adds it to the table range; my problem however, is that the new rows are automatically formatted to look like the second row in the image below.
I want to know if there is anyway to change the auto formatting to look like the first row in the image below.
7 Replies
If you select entire table column and apply to it some format (e.g. center aligned), each next added row keeps such applied format.
If cells in the column are differently formatted, e.g. in first row left aligned, second row center aligned, cells in each next added row will keep default format (or format applied initially to entire column), not previous row format.
To my knowledge we can't change such behaviour.
To change the auto-formatting of new rows in an Excel table, you can modify the formatting of the table itself.
Here is how you can do it:
- Click anywhere inside the table to activate the "Table Tools" contextual tab in the ribbon.
- In the "Table Styles" group, click the "More" button (the downward-facing arrow) at the right corner of the table styles gallery. This will open the "Table Styles" pane.
- In the "Table Styles" pane, hover your mouse over different table styles to preview how they will look.
- To apply a specific style to the table, click on the style you want. The table will change its appearance based on the selected style.
- If none of the built-in styles match the desired look, you can customize the table format manually:
- Click the "New Table Style" button at the bottom of the "Table Styles" pane (icon with a table and a plus sign). b. In the "New Table Style" dialog box, you can customize various formatting options like font, fill, border, etc. c. Give your custom style a name, and click "OK" to create the new table style.
- Once you have the desired table style applied or created, any new rows you add to the table will inherit the formatting of that style.
If you want to make sure that the first row in your table is formatted the way you want, set up the desired formatting in the table, and then add the first row manually. After that, any new rows added below will automatically adopt the same formatting. The text and the steps are the result of various AI's put together.
My answers are voluntary and without guarantee!
I hope this helps!
Dear NikolinoDE You wrote "any new rows you add to the table will INHERIT the formatting of that style" -what if it DOES NOT INHERIT formatting o the table column? Have no idea, it happens only in columns with date format, whole column has standard date short format, and newly added row in that cell(column) unexpectedly changes to "non-standard". Have anyone met such akwardness?
Date in new row shall be added in full date format recognized in your environment, e.g. 2023-09-15. When to it automatically will be applied default column format. If column format is like mm yy or like and you enter new date as 09 23 above will be recognized as text or converted to wrong date, depends on your regional settings. Above is just a sample, it could be any other format.
