Excel: let me a color a single digit in a multi-digit cell

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Guest

I would like to be able to format a single digit in a number cell that
contains 2 or more digits. For example, if I type 346 in a cell, I would like
to be able to bold or color just one of the digits, say the 3. The reason:
to help me test a theory. If the solution to a problem could be either a 3,
4, or 6 in a given cell, I migth want to test the theory that it's the 3. If
I could color the 3 in the cell containing 346, and then color the resulting
answer in other cells, I could track all the changes I made to test the
theory without erasing the other possible variables incase my theory is
wrong. Yes, I confess, it's to help me solve a five-star (highest
difficulty) Sudoku puzzle.

Other suggestions for testing a theory without eliminating the variables are
welcome. (I've tried just bracketing the theoretical numbers, but it gets
clumsy, confusing and cumbersome.)
--
PT

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http://www.microsoft.com/office/com...474414d9&dg=microsoft.public.frontpage.client
 
Please advise how this is related to FrontPage?

--
===
Tom [Pepper] Willett
Microsoft MVP - FrontPage
---
FrontPage Support:
http://www.frontpagemvps.com/

About FrontPage 2003:
http://office.microsoft.com/home/office.aspx?assetid=FX01085802
===
|I would like to be able to format a single digit in a number cell that
| contains 2 or more digits. For example, if I type 346 in a cell, I would
like
| to be able to bold or color just one of the digits, say the 3. The
reason:
| to help me test a theory. If the solution to a problem could be either a
3,
| 4, or 6 in a given cell, I migth want to test the theory that it's the 3.
If
| I could color the 3 in the cell containing 346, and then color the
resulting
| answer in other cells, I could track all the changes I made to test the
| theory without erasing the other possible variables incase my theory is
| wrong. Yes, I confess, it's to help me solve a five-star (highest
| difficulty) Sudoku puzzle.
|
| Other suggestions for testing a theory without eliminating the variables
are
| welcome. (I've tried just bracketing the theoretical numbers, but it gets
| clumsy, confusing and cumbersome.)
| --
| PT
|
| ----------------
| This post is a suggestion for Microsoft, and Microsoft responds to the
| suggestions with the most votes. To vote for this suggestion, click the "I
| Agree" button in the message pane. If you do not see the button, follow
this
| link to open the suggestion in the Microsoft Web-based Newsreader and then
| click "I Agree" in the message pane.
|
|
http://www.microsoft.com/office/com...474414d9&dg=microsoft.public.frontpage.client
 
My apologies. I must have accidently clicked on the wrong choice from
subject drop-down menu. Thanks so much for calling my attention to the
error. I will repost it in the Excel group, as I had intended.
 
I see this relates to Excel, not frontpage.

However, in the line next to the "fx" symbol, where you enter the data (at
the top there should be a field where you'd enter your formulas etc, you can
actually select a word or part of the content of a particular cell, eg
individual character or word or number, and format it eg underline,
italicise, or bold as you wish, you don't have to have it work on the whole
cell/contents.
 
I appreciate your response. While your solution does work for individual
letters in a word, it does not seem to work for isolated digits within a
larger number. I have Excel 2002. When you select one digit of a
multiple-digit integer in the fx bar (say the 3 in 346), and then select a
format (bold, underline, red, whatever), the new format does show up in the
format bar and in the cell-- until you hit enter or click elsewhere. Then
the digit returns to its former format. So, while you are absolutely correct
that your solution works with individual letters in word; it does not work
with individual digits within a multi-digit integer.

Nonetheless, your suggestion gave me an idea for a work-around. If I type a
letter after the digit I want to re-format, then I can indeed re-format just
that digit within a multi-digit cell (i.e., as long as a letter separates the
digits). It's not a perfect solution, but it's a reasonable work-around. I
wouldn't have thought of this without your suggestion. So, many thanks.
 
I see what you mean. maybe you simply can't format numbers in the way you
want.

I just tried it in Excel 2003 and same problem as you, the
bold/underline/italics won't hold on selecting and formatting part of a
number. Maybe if you made the field "Text" rather than "number" from Format
menu > Cell and change the data type to "text" rather than "numeric" or
"currency" etc

It works; but of course you won't be able to use it in formulas (eg
=sum(A1:D7)) since the cell would contain a "text" value rather than a
"numeric" value.....if that makes sense.
 
Andrew,
Thanks for this suggestion. It works! If I change the cells to text
format, I can re-format a single digit in a cell containing numbers. I had
made myself a Sudoku sreadsheet template, and I just changed all the fields
to text formatting. True, I can't use forumulas in the text fields; but even
if I were smart enough to write a formula to solve Sudoku puzzles, which I'm
not, having a program solve all the puzzles for me would sort of take the fun
out of playing!

Thanks again.
 
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