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title: "Manipulate the File in Excel"
canonical: "https://kb.myframeworks.com.au/space/PROSTIXV48DOC/31102495/Manipulate%20the%20File%20in%20Excel"
format: markdown
---
The information in your spreadsheet has come in, raw from ProStix so, you may need to adjust the layout of the worksheet to improve its readability and appearance. When a worksheet is first created, the information is displayed using Microsoft Excel defaults settings. For example: a cell width of 8.43. When text is longer than the cell width, it flows over or behind the cell to the right while formatted numbers are displayed as a series of hashes (######).      Each column represents the following information:  Cell Width While there are a number of methods of resizing columns in Excel, this exercise resizes all columns to a width calculated by Excel. This width allows all of the information contained in a filed to be displayed on the worksheet.  To resize all columns on the worksheet:  Each column is resized to a measurement that allow all of the information in each field to be displayed. Because the columns have increased in size, the worksheet may flow off the right-hand side of the screen. Use the bottom scroll-bar or the <Tab> key to move across to view the columns further to the right.  Insert a Row and Headings Inserting extra rows and columns is another way of improving the readability of a worksheet. When a Debtor Letter Extract is created, only the data is added to the file. When this file is opened in Excel, only the data is displayed.  To add a heading to each of the columns, a row must be inserted along the top of the worksheet. When you insert a row, all the data moves down the worksheet. To insert a row along the top of the worksheet:  A new row has been inserted above the first row of data on the worksheet. The following headings is added to each column by inserting the following text values into the appropriate cell reference:    A1 Ref B1 Cust No C1 Cust Name D1 Address 1 E1 Address 2 <F1> Address 3 G1 P/C H1 Action I1 Current J1 Overdue  To bold the text in the heading row:  Format  Dollar Values The information that has been exported from the Debtors Master file is raw data. This is illustrated by the way the customer balances are displayed in the worksheet.  Other numeric fields such as the customer account number and the postcode are OK because they are not calculated fields and their display do not need to be formatted. If you print either the customer current balance or overdue amount, it is advisable to format these numeric fields by adding dollar signs, commas and making sure each figure has the conventional two decimal places.  By applying numeric formatting to these columns, it is possible to perform mathematical calculations and apply formulas to these columns for analytical purposes. To apply numerical formatting to columns I and J:  This applys Currency Style numeric formatting to the selected columns and the result is a much more acceptable way of printing a dollar amount:  Once the worksheet has been formatted, close the file and save the changes to the .xls file.