Format numbers as currency in Excel for the web

To show numbers as currency, apply either the Currency format or the Accounting format.

(You can find a comparison of the two formats in the Currency or Accounting section, later in this article.)

  1. Select the cells that you want to format. In the Number group on the Home tab, select the down arrow in the Number Format box.
  2. Choose either Currency or Accounting.
    Screenshot that shows the number format drop-down screen.

Excel for the web applies the default currency symbol and appropriate decimal places in the cells that you selected.

Currency or Accounting?

While both the Currency format and the Accounting format can be used to correctly display monetary values, some differences exist between them, as shown in the following table.

Format Description Example
Currency With this format:
  • The decimal points appear aligned in the column.
  • The currency symbol appears next to the first digit in the cell. (That symbol isn't aligned with the other currency symbols in the column.)
 Screenshot that shows currency number format applied to cells.
Accounting With this format:
  • Both the currency symbols and the decimal points appear aligned in the column.
  • Cells that contain only zeros are identified with a hyphen.
  • Negative numbers appear in parentheses.
 Screenshot that shows accounting number format applied to cells.

Change the default currency symbol

Currency formatting in Excel for the web is affected by regional settings. To learn more, see Change regional format settings in Excel for the web. If you have the Excel desktop application, you can click Open in Desktop and format numbers as currency in Excel to specify the default currency symbol that you want. After you apply the currency symbol, save your worksheet and then reopen it in Excel for the web.

Screenshot that shows Open in Desktop.

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