How to Change a Percent Into a Decimal in Excel

Techwalla may earn compensation through affiliate links in this story. Learn more about our affiliate and product review process here.

Microsoft Excel simplifies complex or repetitive calculations by allowing you to create customized spreadsheets and format them as necessary. Because Excel's primary feature is dealing with numbers, the program offers many numeric formatting options, such as percentages, decimals and currency. Although you numerically convert a percentage into decimal format by dividing by 100, this is unnecessary in Excel. You need only define the format, and Excel automatically performs the calculation.

Advertisement

Step 1

Right-click the cell you wish to change, and select "Format Cells."

Video of the Day

Step 2

Click the "Number" tab in the Format Cells window.

Step 3

Click "Number" in the category list.

Advertisement

Step 4

Enter the number of decimal places you prefer next to the field labeled Decimal Places. This can be done by manually entering the number or by clicking the up/down arrows to change the default value of 2.

Advertisement

Step 5

Click "OK" to change the percent into a decimal.

Video of the Day

Advertisement

Advertisement