Today, you’ll learn how to apply the Percentage number format in Microsoft Excel.

Ever stared at a spreadsheet, trying to make your numbers look like actual percentages, only to end up more confused than when you started? Yeah, I’ve been there too.

You enter the formula, expect to see 25%, and instead, Excel throws a weird decimal at you. It’s like trying to present a budget update and realizing half the team thinks 0.75 means it’s seventy-five dollars and not 25%.

In the real world, whether you’re dealing with KPIs, sales data, or budget forecasts, clean percentage formatting matters.

That’s why I’m walking you through this myself. No fluff, no tech-speak—just some quick fixes that actually make sense. Let’s get into it.

Using the Number Formatting Drop Down Menu

This method lets you quickly format numbers as percentages in Excel using the handy Number Formatting drop-down menu. It works in practically all Excel versions, from the ancient 2010 to the shiny 2024, so no worries about compatibility. The best part? Just one click and your numbers transform into neat percentages.

Below, I’ll show you the steps with relevant examples so you can follow along with me in your own worksheet.

Suppose you got a dataset similar to the one shown above.

You want to transform the decimal values in the ROI column into percentages.

Create a helper column to the right side of the ROI column and name it Helper.

Now, type in the following formula into the first cell below the Helper column header:

=C2/100

Adjust the formula cell reference according to your own dataset. For example, you might need to change C2 to E2.

Hit Enter to calculate the cell.

Select the calculated cell, click on the fill handle icon in the bottom right corner of the cell, and drag it down the column until the cell where data exists.

Excel will apply the same formula to the rest of the cells in the Helper column and calculate the values automatically.

Now, rename the Helper column to ROI column.

You can hide the original ROI column by right-clicking on the column header and selecting Hide in the context menu.

Now, select the replaced ROI column and go to the Home tab.

Click on the General number formatting option drop-down menu in the Number commands block.

Select Percentage from the drop-down list.

Excel will transform the decimal values to percentages as shown in the screenshot above.

Click on the Decrease Decimal button in the Number commands block to eliminate the zeroes after the decimal point.

That’s it! You’ve successfully applied the Percentage number format in Excel.

Ribbon Shortcut

If you wish to apply the Percentage number formatting, you can press the following keyboard shortcuts:

Alt > H > N > Down Arrow to expand the General drop-down list > select Percentage > press Enter

With a few key presses, you can quickly apply the Percentage number formatting.

Using the Paste Special Tool

If the original method mentioned above seems a bit lengthy, you can reduce some of the steps using the Paste Special tool. It allows you to perform a mathematical operation, like division, on a dataset, so you no longer need to create a helper column. Let me show you the simple trick below:

Type 100 in any blank cell.

Press Ctrl + C to copy the value.

Now, select the column containing the input values that you want to convert to percentages.

Press Ctrl + Alt + V to bring up the Paste Special dialog box.

Select the Divide option below the Operation section of the Paste Special dialog box.

Click OK to apply the division operation on the selected dataset.

The whole numbers have been converted to decimal places.

Now, select the input column that you wish to convert to a Percentage number formatting and click on the Percentage format from the General tab of the Number commands block in the Home tab.

You should have successfully transformed the given values into percentages.

Select the converted column again and click on the Decrease Decimal button multiple times to get rid of the decimals in the percentage values.

Using the Format Cells Dialog Box

You can use the Format Cells dialog box as well to apply the Percentage number format to one or many cells. There are two ways to accomplish this. I’ve explained both of the methods below:

Percentage Number Formatting

Ensure that the source dataset is in decimals and not in whole numbers. If you don’t know how to convert the source data points to decimals, you can refer to the two methods explained so far.

Ideally, if your dataset is somewhat similar to the one shown above, then you need to divide the values in the ROI column using 100.

Now that you’ve converted your source dataset to decimal values, select this source dataset and press Ctrl + 1 to bring up the Format Cells dialog box.

Select the Percentage option in the Category column on the Format Cells dialog box.

Look at the Sample field, and you should see that the source number value has been transformed to a percentage value. For example, 0.08 has been converted to 8.00%.

Click OK to accept the changes you’ve made.

That’s it! You’ve successfully applied the Percentage number formatting to a group of whole numbers.

Use the Decrease Decimals command in the Number commands block of the Home tab to get rid of the redundant decimal places from the percentage values.

Custom Number Formatting

The Format Cells dialog box helps you to uniquely format numbers to suit your preferences. One such option in it is the Custom option in the Category section of the Format Cells tool. Here, you can simply write a custom code, enter it into specific fields, and apply the formatting by clicking OK to get the numbering style of your choice.

Select the input data set in which you wish to apply the Percentage number formatting rule.

Press Ctrl + 1 to launch the Format Cells dialog box.

Select the Custom number formatting option from the Category column.

Now, enter a custom number formatting code, 0"%", into the Type field.

You should see the output of the code in the Sample field just above the Type field.

Click OK in the bottom right corner of the Format Cells dialog box to save the custom number format for the current cell.

You should see that the input values have been converted to percentages, and you also don’t need to remove the zeroes after the decimal places.

Using Power Query

If you want to show numbers as percentages in Excel by importing a large dataset from an external source, Power Query is the best choice. It’s available in most modern Excel versions like Excel 2010 and newer, including Excel for Microsoft 365. The main benefit is that it helps you format and clean up your data before bringing it into your worksheet for both external and internal data sources.

You must import it into the Power Query Editor interface before transforming your dataset in Power Query. There are two options, and I’ve discussed both below.

If you’re importing a dataset from an external server or software, click on the Get Data command in the Data tab.

A context menu will open with many options. Choose your preferred one, which can be From Database, From Azure, etc.

Hover the cursor over any of the above options and click on the data connectors available in the overflow context menu that opens on the right side. Such as, From SQL Server Database if you’ve hovered the cursor over From Database.

Now, follow the onscreen instructions to complete the data import process.

Alternatively, if you’re adding data from the active worksheet or from another Excel workbook, select the dataset directly and click on the From Table/Range command in the Data tab.

Click OK in the Create Table dialog box to convert the input dataset into a table and immediately export to Power Query Editor.

Here’s what the imported dataset looks like in Power Query Editor.

Click on the Add Column tab and select the Custom Column command in the General block.

The Custom Column wizard will open. Type a column name in the New column name field.

Enter the formula [ROI]/100 into the Custom column formula field. Replace ROI with the column name according to your own dataset.

Click OK to create the new column named Decimals or whichever you named it.

Now, right-click on the newly created column containing the decimal values, like the Decimals column, hover the cursor over the Change Type menu, and select Percentage from the context menu.

Power Query should change the Number formatting type to Percentage.

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

Choose the Existing worksheet option in the Import Data dialog box and select a cell or cell range in the active worksheet to export data from Power Query Editor to Excel.

You should see that the input dataset has been converted to the Percentage formatting.

If you see the intended values are in decimals, apply the Percentage formatting from the Number formatting drop-down list in the Home tab.

Finally, you have created a data connection with the source dataset and have converted the source dataset to Percentage formatting.

The next time the source data changes, you don’t have to redo all these. Simply go to the Query tab in Excel and click on the Refresh command in the Load commands block.

Conclusions

So, now you know how to easily apply the Percentage formatting to numerical values in Excel in various ways, including the default Number formatting drop-down menu.

If this Microsoft Excel tutorial helped you to learn a new skill, use the comment box to share your feedback or suggestions.