Microsoft Excel Tutorial: Check Writer Format - Fill Empty Space in a cell with Asterisks.
Welcome back to the MrExcel netcast! In today's episode, I have a cool trick that will take you back to the days of Lotus 1-2-3. Do you remember how in Lotus, you could put a backslash in any character and the cell would automatically fill with that character, no matter how wide or narrow it got? Well, it turns out that this trick still works in Excel, but only if you have transition navigation keys turned on. Don't worry, I'll show you how to do it without having to learn those old navigation keys.
But first, let's take a look at another trick that will give you the same result. Have you ever seen a check with leading asterisks before the amount? Well, we can replicate that format in Excel by using the "check writers format". Simply go to Format Cells and add two asterisks in front of the number format. The first asterisk tells Excel to repeat the next character, and the second asterisk is the character we want to repeat. You can even use this trick to create patterns, like a series of dots or dashes.
Now, let's get back to the Lotus 1-2-3 trick. In order to replicate it in Excel, we need to add a number 0 somewhere in the cell and then format it with just two asterisks. This will tell Excel to repeat the asterisk character and not show the number. It's the exact same trick as the Lotus one, but without the need for navigation keys. And if you're wondering why I keep saying "asterisk, asterisk", well, I think we should just call it a "Nathan sign". Why? Well, it's a reference to Nathan Hale, who famously said "I regret that I have but one life to give for my country" before being hanged for treason. So, let's start calling it a Nathan sign from now on!
I hope you found this trick useful and will start using it in your Excel spreadsheets. Thanks for stopping by and don't forget to tune in for our next netcast from MrExcel. And if you have any other cool Excel tricks or tips, feel free to share them in the comments below. See you next time!
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Table of Contents:
(00:00) Introduction
(00:17) Cool trick from Lotus 1-2-3
(00:27) Backslash character in Excel
(00:37) Navigation keys and the trick
(00:51) Using the check writers format
(01:07) How to replicate the Lotus 1-2-3 trick
(01:45) Filling a cell with any character
(01:55) Clicking Like really helps the algorithm
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If you need to fill a cell with a character, either with or without numbers, there are a couple of interesting alternatives. Episode 574 shows you how.
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