How to Display a Dollar Sign to the Left of a Number in Excel

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You can format Microsoft Office Excel to automatically display a dollar sign for currency.

Microsoft Office Excel is a powerful spreadsheet program used by all types of people to keep track of all types of data. It is especially popular as a financial spreadsheet, letting users enter numerous financial formulas to make accounting and bookkeeping easier. If you are working with currency, you might want the currency's symbol, such as the dollar sign to appear to the left of the amounts. Excel allows you to format cells to make the dollar sign appear automatically any time you enter a number.

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Step 1

Left-click and drag over the range of cells in which you want to display the dollar sign. If you want the sign to appear in an entire column, click the column letter at the top. If you want to select an entire row, click the row number on the left side. For a single cell, simply click the cell. For the entire worksheet, click the square at the intersection of the column letters and row numbers, at the top left of the worksheet, or simply press "Ctrl-A" twice.

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Step 2

Right-click anywhere in the selected area and select "Format Cells."

Step 3

Select the "Numbers" tab from the Format Cells window.

Step 4

Select "Currency" from the Category menu on the left side of the window.

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Step 5

Select the way you want the amount to be shown in the Format menu in the middle of the window. You can select the number of decimal places to display, how the program handles negative numbers and a few other options.

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Step 6

Click "OK" to exit the Format Cells window and save your changes.

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Step 7

Type a number into one of the cells that you selected and press "Enter." The number will appear in the format you selected with a dollar sign to the left of the number.

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