Manually Specifying Fonts and Font Sizes in Excel

 Last reviewed: November 2, 1994
Article ID: Q72557

SUMMARY

With the Format Font command, you can change the font, size, style, and color of any information you enter in a cell. The Format Font dialog box allows you to manually enter a desired font name or font size if it is not already listed in the list box of fonts. This is documented on page 184 of the "Microsoft Excel User's Guide" for version 3.0.

Note that although earlier versions of Excel allow you to enter your own font names and sizes, results are not consistent.

MORE INFORMATION

Font Name

Step 4 on page 184 of the "Microsoft Excel User's Guide" states: 

   If the font you want is not listed, type the font name in the box
   below the Font box.
This can be very confusing and can appear to cause printer problems. This step should be followed under certain circumstances. Some typefaces are known under several names. For example, Swiss=Helvetica=Univers and CG Times= Dutch=Times Roman. Windows keeps a table of these equivalences. So, if you want to use a font called "Swiss" and are unaware that "Helvetica" is the equivalent font, you can type "Swiss" and "Helvetica" will be displayed.

This will usually work well with screen fonts; however, note that it may not map properly to a printout. For example, you cannot type the name of a font that your printer is not capable of printing and expect it to print out.

Example

  1. Open a new worksheet and select cell A1.

  2. From the Format menu, choose Font.

  3. Be sure that the Printer Fonts box is not checked. In the edit box below the Fonts box, type "CG Times" (without the quotation marks). Choose OK.

  4. Type any text into cell A1.

  5. Choose cell A2, type some text and format the font to be Times Roman, following the same steps as above.

Notice that the fonts are exactly the same in the two cells.

Font Size

Step 5 on page 184 states: 

   If the font size you want is not listed, type the size in the box
   below the Size box.
This works under limited conditions. For example, using scalable fonts, you can type any size you want. This includes the Windows vector fonts - Modern, Roman, and Script. Using bitmapped fonts, such as Helvetica, you can type only those sizes that are multiples of sizes that are already listed in the Size box for that particular font.

For example, if Helvetica has sizes 6 and 10, you can enter sizes 12, 18, 20, 24, 30, 36, 40, and so on. Scaling bitmapped fonts to large sizes may cause these fonts to display as jagged.

REFERENCES

"Microsoft Excel User's Guide." Version 3.0, page 328.

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Last reviewed: November 2, 1994
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