Excel: Fit a Slightly Too-Large Value in a Cell

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Problem: I just printed 10 copies of the 20-page report for a meeting. Some numbers printed as ##### instead of numbers.

Strategy: Excel shows the ### when the number is too big for the cell. But, numbers will sometimes fit on the screen and not fit when you are printing.

  1. Annoying [pound, hash, or number] signs.

    To solve this problem, you can use Excel's Shrink to Fit option. To use it, you select the numeric columns. Press Ctrl+1 to access the Format Cells dialog. On the Alignment tab, you choose Shrink to Fit from the Text Control section.

    Results: The cells will be displayed in a smaller font when they become too wide for the column. This is preferable to having the numbers displayed as ######.

  2. Choose Shrink to Fit.

  3. The small font for 10,205,685 is preferable to #####.