Today, you’ll learn how to apply the General Number Format in Microsoft Excel.

Ever opened up a spreadsheet and thought, “Why do these numbers all look different?”. It happens more than you’d expect, especially when pulling in data from different systems or files.

One number looks normal, another’s in scientific notation, and some just look… off. That’s where Excel’s General Number Format comes in. It’s kind of like giving everything a reset—no fancy currency signs, no decimals out of nowhere—just plain numbers.

Simple, but weirdly easy to miss if you don’t know exactly where to click. I’ll be honest, it used to trip me up, too. But once you know how to apply it, it’s one of those tiny fixes that make a big difference. Let’s get into it—you’ll see how easy it actually is you practice and try the methods mentioned in this Excel guide.

Using a Keyboard Shortcut

This method is fast, doesn’t require navigating menus, and is perfect for you if you’re a beginner who wants a simple way to reset number formatting. It’s especially useful when cleaning up imported data or removing unwanted formatting like currency or percentage signs.

Open your Excel file and click on the worksheet where you want to apply the number format.

Select the cell or cells that you want to change to the General Number Format. You can do this by clicking on one cell or by clicking and dragging to highlight multiple cells.

Make sure your selected cells contain data, like numbers or text, that you’d like to reformat.

Now, press the following keyboard shortcut on your keyboard:

Ctrl + Shift + ~ (The tilde symbol ~ is usually found on the top-left corner of your keyboard, below the Esc key, and next to the number 1 key.)

Once you press Ctrl + Shift + ~, Excel will immediately change the format of the selected cells to the General format.

The General format means Excel will display numbers as they are, without any special formatting like currency symbols, decimal places, or percentage signs.

This is helpful if you want to remove formatting from numbers or go back to a clean, basic display of your data.

Using the Home Tab Ribbon

The Home tab ribbon method in Excel allows you to apply the General Number Format using the mouse and Excel’s on-screen tools. This is especially helpful for beginners who feel more comfortable clicking through menus rather than using keyboard shortcuts. It’s commonly used when adjusting the format of imported data, or when you want to visually confirm formatting changes while exploring Excel’s features.

Open your Excel file and go to the worksheet where you want to apply the General Number Format.

Click to select the cell or cells that you want to format. You can select a single cell, multiple cells, or even an entire column or row.

Look at the top of your screen and click on the Home tab in the ribbon if it’s not already selected.

In the Number group on the ribbon (usually near the middle), you’ll see a drop-down menu showing the current number format (e.g., General, Currency, Percentage).

Click the drop-down arrow in that number format box to open a list of available formats.

From the list, click on General to apply the General Number Format to your selected cells.

The selected cells will now display numbers without any special formatting like dollar signs, decimals, or percent symbols.

Using the Format Cells Dialog Box

You can also apply the General Number Format in Microsoft Excel using the Format Cells dialog box. It gives you more control over how your data is displayed or formatted.

This method is useful when you want to manually explore and understand all available formatting options in one place. It’s especially helpful for you if you’re a beginner who is learning Excel and wants a consistent way to reset formatting while getting familiar with different number formats.

Open your Excel workbook and navigate to the worksheet where your data is located.

Select the cell or range of cells that you want to change to the General Number Format.

Right-click on any of the selected cells to open a shortcut menu.

From the menu that appears, click on Format Cells to open the Format Cells dialog box.

In the Format Cells window, make sure the Number tab is selected at the top.

In the list on the left-hand side, click on General to select it.

Click the OK button at the bottom of the dialog box to apply the General format to the selected cells.

Your data will now appear in the default format which is the General Number Format, without currency symbols, decimal adjustments, or percentage signs.

Using the Clear Formats Option

You can also apply the General Number Format in Microsoft Excel by using the Clear Formats option. It works on the principle that Excel always treats all numbers in the General Number Format by default. So, by removing all formatting from selected cells, you automatically convert numerical values to the General Number Format.

This method is especially helpful when you want to quickly return your data to its original, unformatted state. It’s commonly used when cleaning up messy spreadsheets, removing color fills, borders, and number formatting all at once. Let me walk you through the steps below:

Select the cells you want to format by clicking and dragging over them. If you want to select the entire sheet, click the Select All button (the small triangle at the top-left corner of the worksheet).

Go to the Home tab on the ribbon at the top of the Excel window.

In the Editing group, locate and click the Clear button (it looks like an eraser).

From the dropdown menu that appears, choose Clear Formats. This will remove all formatting (like font styles, colors, and borders) and reset the number format to General.

Verify the changes by checking if the numbers in the selected cells now display without any special formatting (e.g., no currency symbols, decimal adjustments, or date formats).

A downside of this method is that it’ll remove all the cell formatting and styles along with the number formatting.

Set Default Format in New Workbook

You can apply the General Number Format by setting it as the default format for all new workbooks in Microsoft Excel. This method is useful if you frequently work with plain numeric data and want every new worksheet to start with clean, unformatted cells.

It’s especially helpful for you if you regularly import raw data or want to avoid applying formatting manually every time you create a new file. Now, let me walk you through the process below:

Open a blank Excel workbook and click on the Home tab to make it active.

Select all cells in the sheet by clicking the Select All button at the top-left corner of the worksheet (where the row and column headers meet).

With all cells selected, go to the Number group and choose General from the drop-down list of number formats.

Now, click the File tab on the ribbon to open the backstage view.

Click on Save As, then choose a location on your computer to save the file.

In the Save As dialog box, change the Save as type to Excel Template (*.xltx).

Name the file as Book.xltx — this is the special name Excel uses for the default new workbook template.

Save the file in the XLStart folder on your computer. The typical path is:

C:\Users[YourUsername]\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Excel\XLStart

Once saved, every time you create a new workbook in Excel, it will automatically use the General Number Format as the default for all cells.

Using Power Query

You can apply the General Number Format in Microsoft Excel using Power Query, which is a built-in tool for importing, cleaning, and transforming data. This method is useful when you’re dealing with large datasets from external sources and want to ensure consistent formatting during the import process.

Now, if you’re importing data from an external source that requires preprocessing in Power Query, follow the steps mentioned in this section to apply the General Number Format effortlessly to the new dataset.

Import Data to Power Query Editor

For an external dataset, click on the Get Data drop-down menu and hover the mouse over your preferred data source, like From Azure. You’ll find this in the Data tab of the Excel ribbon menu.

An overflow menu will open on the right side, containing options for data connectors, like From Azure SQL Database, From Azure Blob Storage, and so on.

Click on any such options and follow the onscreen instructions to import external data into Power Query.

Now, if you wish to load a dataset from the existing Excel workbook, navigate to the source worksheet.

Select the data you wish to import and click on the From Table/Range command in the Data tab.

Click OK on the Create Table dialog box.

Your data will be imported into the Power Query Editor interface.

Sometimes, the imported data will automatically be transformed to the General Number Format style.

If you see so, follow the steps mentioned in the Exporting to Excel Worksheet section below.

Applying the General Number Format

If Power Query Editor doesn’t apply the General Number Format automatically, follow these steps:

Right-click the column header and select Change Type, then choose Decimal Number or Whole Number depending on your data.

Power Query doesn’t show a direct General format label, but setting the data type to number ensures Excel treats it using the General format when loaded.

Exporting to Excel Worksheet

Click on the File tab and select Close & Load To option in the context menu.

The Import Data dialog box will open. Select the Existing worksheet option and click on the cell or cell range on the active worksheet where you wish to export the data to.

Click OK to finalize the data export.

You’ll see that Excel has applied the General Number Format to the selected dataset or columns.

Conclusions

So these are some of the proven methods to apply the General Number Format in Excel. You can choose the method you like depending on your dataset, usage preferences, and Excel expertise level.

You can share feedback and suggestions in the comment box.