Aligning the contents of a table cell to the right and left simultaneously Excel XP, 2003, 2007

Cell contents can be aligned to the left or right—however, only one of the two is possible at a time. But for currency values, it makes more sense to align the currency to the left and the amount to the right.

This task can be completed with a special number format. First enter the desired data in the cell. Then execute the ‘Format | Cells’ command in the selected cell and activate the ‘Number’ tab. Select the ‘Custom’ category on the left side of the dialog box and then click the entry towards the right in ‘Type’ field. Now enter a format code such as ‘ $ * ###.##’ for instance. Confirm with ‘OK’ to apply the formatting. The trick here is the star ‘*’ that separates the left-justified and rightjustifi ed part of the format. See to it that you leave a space after the star. Excel uses the immediate following character to fill the resulting gap in the cell. In this way, you can even create specific effects as per your wish. For example, the empty space would be filled with an underscore is you use the string ‘ $ *_###.##’. The star as a format code can also be combined with any other option. In this format, the default alignment applied to the cell becomes irrelevant, since the new rule creates a pseudo-justified appearance in each case.