Great-looking spreadsheets will effectively communicate information and present data in a far better way. Below are some pointers that will well get you on your way with giving your Excel spreadsheet that professional polish and look.
1. Use the Correct Font
This would be any clean and readable font, examples being Arial or Calibri. A general rule is to desist from many fonts in your spreadsheet because it tends to look messy.
2. Use Not More Than One or Two Fonts
You only need not use more than one or two fonts in the course of working on your spreadsheet. Just use one for the header while you may use another for the content to maintain coherence.
3. Centre Your Title
Excel has an option called “Merge Cells” or “Centre Across Selection” that will allow you to professionally centre your spreadsheet title.
4. Headers in Bold
Highlight headings in bold. The heading is differentiated from the body of your writing easily.
5. Use Uniform Font Size
Headings and subtitles should appear in a larger font size than the regular font applied to other areas of your report. This promotes readability.
6. Align Your Text Accordingly
Leave your text aligned to the left and your numbers to the right. In this way, it is easier to read and comprehend your data and makes more sense of it.
7. Provide Space
Align cell height and width to avoid clutter. Even leave cells free to present better readability.
8. Use Borders Judiciously
Borders will help in marking off areas of your spreadsheet effectively. This will come in handy to help you organize your information to make reading easier.
9. Conditional Formatting
Conditionally format data so that major points of data, or even trends, can be brought into view. This might give quicker alerts about key information.
10. Use Color Sparingly
Although colors can make your spreadsheet look nice, too many colors detract the user. Use a limited palette of colors.
11. Freeze Panes for Easy Navigation
Freeze the header row or the first column so that these are always on screen when you scroll the spreadsheet. It’s very important in tracking your data.
12. Use Data Validation
Ensure that the data entered in your spreadsheet is of the right type and format by applying data validation.
13. Insert Charts and Graphs
Chart your data by inserting charts and graphs. In this way, complicated sets of data become more readable.
14. Use Templates
Work from an experienced template so that you can save some precious time and maintain consistency within your spreadsheet.
15. Format Numbers
Use number, date and currency formatting appropriate. It’s easier to read and the data is more meaningful.
16. Comments and Notes
Use comments and notes to put your data into context, or used to explain data.
17. Group and Outline Data
Grouping and outlining enables you to make extremely large data sets more manageable because one can collapse or expand a portion of data as one works.
18. Protect Your Spreadsheet
Protect your spreadsheet so nobody messes with it-except when you want them to. In this way, data will not get corrupted.
19. Use Headers and Footers
Document title, date, and page numbers should go into the header and footer.
20. Review and Clean Up
Review your spreadsheet for errors and inconsistencies before finalizing it. Clear all extra data and formatting.
Conclusion
With these 20 tips, one would be well on the way to constructing spreadsheets that look professional, not only in their appeal but also highly effective in communicating one’s data. As a general reminder, a well-formatted spreadsheet is the sometimes lonely difference between success and failure in respect to how your data is perceived and understood.
