In Excel tables, we often enter text and numerical values. It's not advisable to enter units of measure after numbers; instead, we use formatting to handle this. Let's see how!

Create a new, blank workbook and start typing some numbers from cell A2. Include negative and non-integer numbers as well. For non-integer numbers, remember to use a period as the decimal separator.

Select these cells and check the Number group on the Home tab to see the number format of the values in the selected cells. Currently, it shows as General, meaning no specific format is applied.

Next, copy these numbers to another column and try out the most important number formats.

There are several ways to set these formats; let's start with the Format Cells panel. Click on the corner of the Number group!

On the panel's left side, we can choose from various categories. Select the Number category and explore the available settings. We can track the result on the top part of the panel.

First, adjust the number of decimal places using the spinner buttons. The default offered by the program is 2 decimal places; let's reduce this to zero!

The Use 1000 Separator (,) option allows us to format numbers with commas at the appropriate places for thousands.

To highlight negative values in the table, choose a format from the available types for negative numbers that displays them in red.

After clicking OK, we can see the settings applied to the selected cells. Reducing the decimal places to zero means that a number like 123.987 will appear as 124 in the cell. Excel rounds this value for display purposes only; the actual value doesn't change, as we can confirm by looking at the Formula Bar.

To truly round numbers, we'd need to use a function, as formatting does not alter the values!

Copy the original values again and open the Format Cells panel! Choose the Currency category from the Categories. The number of decimal places can also be adjusted here; let's reduce it to one! Currency-formatted values are automatically separated into thousands. The dropdown list allows setting the currency. Excel offers the currency based on the operating system's regional settings, but we can choose anything else if needed.

Negative values can also be highlighted in red.

If we see hash marks in the cells after formatting, it indicates that the column width is not sufficient for the formatted number values to fit. In this case, increase the column width.

Enter some percentage values in the next column. It's fine to type the percentage symbol after the number.

Selecting these cells immediately shows at the top of the Number group that they are in Percentage format. This means, for example, 12% is displayed as 0.12 in general format. Removing the percentage format reveals the unformatted number values.

Let's look at dates! Dates are also numerical values and should be entered according to regional settings.

Select the entered values and open the Format Cells panel. We can see that the Date category is pre-selected. Within it, we can choose a different type.

Dates are essentially simple numbers in date format. Removing the Date format reveals these numerical values. Where do these numbers originate? Let's change one value to one and then reapply the date format. We immediately see that 1 corresponds to 01/01/1900, representing the number of days elapsed since then.

The same principle applies to time values. Enter time values according to regional settings.

These are also numerical values, specifically fractions between 0 and 1. We can verify this by removing the time format. Reapplying the Time category allows us to choose a different type, just as with dates.

We can set number formats not only via the Format Cells panel. The buttons and dropdown list in the Number group allow for quicker formatting. The list includes the most commonly used formats. Below the list, we find icons for setting Currency, Percentage format, thousands separator, and adjusting decimal places.

Don't be surprised that not every option sets the same format as the Format Cells panel. For instance, using the icon instead of the panel for currency sets an accounting format, not a currency format. There's very little difference between the two, and both are suitable.