Home Tab in MS Excel 2013 and Its Features

The Home tab is one of the most frequently used tabs in Microsoft Excel 2013. It contains commands for formatting cells, aligning data, changing number formats, applying styles, inserting or deleting cells, and editing worksheet content.

Some features of the Home tab, such as Bold, Italic, and Increase/Decrease Font Size, are similar to those available in MS Word. You can learn more about these features in our tutorial on Basic Features of the Home Tab in MS Word 2013.

However, Excel also provides features specifically designed for working with spreadsheet data. Let us discuss the groups and their important features in detail.

Home tab in excel

Home Tab in Excel 2013

The Home tab contains the following main groups:

Clipboard
Font
Alignment
Number
Styles
Cells
Editing

Each group contains commands related to a particular task.

1. Clipboard Group

The Clipboard group is located at the left side of the Home tab. It contains commands for copying, moving, and applying formatting to cell contents.

Paste

The Paste command inserts copied or cut content into the selected cell or range.

Cut

The Cut command removes the selected content from its current location so that it can be moved to another location.

Shortcut: Ctrl + X

Copy

The Copy command copies the selected cells without removing the original data.

Shortcut: Ctrl + C

Format Painter

Format Painter copies the formatting of one cell or range and applies it to another. It can copy formatting such as font style, fill color, borders, and number formats.

2. Font Group

The Font group provides options for changing the appearance of cell contents and cell borders.

Font Name

The Font Name option changes the typeface used for the contents of selected cells.

For example, you can select Arial or Calibri to change how text appears.

Bold, Italic, and Underline

Bold: Makes text thicker and more prominent.
Italic: Displays text in a slanted style.
Underline: Adds an underline below text.

Keyboard shortcuts include Ctrl + B for Bold, Ctrl + I for Italic, and Ctrl + U for Underline.

Borders

By default, Excel displays gridlines on the worksheet screen. These gridlines are not normally printed unless the relevant print setting is enabled.

If you want clear borders around records in a printed worksheet, you can use the Borders feature in the Font group.

To apply borders:

Select the cells where you want borders.
Open the Home tab.
In the Font group, click the drop-down arrow beside Borders.
Choose a border option, such as All Borders, Outside Borders, or Bottom Border.

Excel provides several border options for selected cells. You can also customize the border color and line style using the More Borders option in the Format Cells dialog box.

Note: Cell borders and worksheet gridlines are different. Borders are formatting applied to selected cells, while gridlines are the default lines used to distinguish cells.

Fill Color

Fill Color changes the background color of selected cells.

For example, you can apply a yellow background to a heading row to make it stand out.

Font Color

Font Color changes the color of text or numbers displayed in selected cells.

You can use different colors to highlight important values or headings.

3. Alignment Group

The Alignment group controls the position and appearance of content within cells.

Horizontal Alignment

Horizontal alignment controls how content is positioned from left to right inside a cell.

Excel provides three common options:

Align Left: Positions content toward the left side of the cell.
Center: Positions content in the center of the cell.
Align Right: Positions content toward the right side of the cell.

Vertical Alignment

Vertical alignment controls how content is positioned from top to bottom inside a cell.

Its main options are:

Top Align: Places content at the top of the cell.
Middle Align: Places content in the vertical middle of the cell.
Bottom Align: Places content at the bottom of the cell.

These options are useful when cells have increased row heights or contain multiple lines of text.

Orientation

The Orientation feature changes the direction or angle of text in selected cells.

It is useful when column headings are long and you want to save horizontal space.

To change text orientation:

Select the required cell or range.
Open the Home tab.
In the Alignment group, click Orientation.
Choose an available option, such as Rotate Text Up, Rotate Text Down, or Vertical Text.

You can also open the Format Cells dialog box and use the Alignment tab to specify a text orientation angle.

To open Format Cells, press Ctrl + 1, then select the Alignment tab.

Wrap Text

Wrap Text displays long content on multiple lines within the same cell instead of allowing it to extend into adjacent empty cells.

For example, if a column heading contains several words, Wrap Text can display those words on multiple lines.

Merge & Center

Merge & Center combines selected adjacent cells into one larger cell and centers the content.

This feature is commonly used for worksheet titles.

Important: When merging cells, Excel generally retains the content of the upper-left cell and removes content from the other cells in the selected range. Check your data before merging.

Increase and Decrease Indent

These commands move cell content farther from or closer to the cell's left edge.

They can help organize headings and make data easier to read.

4. Number Group

The Number group changes how numeric values are displayed in cells. It is particularly useful for financial records, dates, percentages, and calculations.

Number Format

The Number Format drop-down lets you choose how values appear in selected cells.

Common formats include:

General: Displays values using Excel's default formatting.
Number: Displays numeric values and can show decimal places.
Currency: Displays values with a currency symbol.
Accounting: Aligns currency symbols and decimal points in a column.
Short Date: Displays dates in a short date format.
Long Date: Displays dates in a longer written format.
Percentage: Displays a value as a percentage.
Fraction: Displays numbers as fractions.
Scientific: Displays numbers in scientific notation.
Text: Treats entries as text rather than ordinary numeric values.

Accounting Number Format

This feature formats numbers with a currency symbol and accounting-style alignment.

It is useful when preparing budgets, financial reports, and salary records.

Percent Style

Percent Style displays a numeric value as a percentage.

For example, a value of 0.25 formatted as a percentage appears as 25%.

Comma Style

Comma Style applies a number format that uses a thousands separator and typically displays decimal places.

For example, a value such as 25000 may appear as 25,000.00, depending on the applied format and regional settings.

Increase Decimal and Decrease Decimal

These commands increase or decrease the number of decimal places displayed in selected cells.

They change the displayed precision, not necessarily the underlying stored value.

5. Styles Group

The Styles group provides features for applying formatting based on the content or purpose of the data.

Conditional Formatting

Conditional Formatting automatically applies formatting when cell values meet specified conditions.

For example, you can highlight marks below 35 in red or display high sales values in a different color.

To apply Conditional Formatting:

Select the required cells.
Open the Home tab.
Click Conditional Formatting in the Styles group.
Select a rule or create a new rule.
Set the condition and formatting.

Format as Table

Format as Table converts a selected data range into an Excel table with a predefined style.

Excel tables can provide filter buttons, structured formatting, and easier management of related records.

Cell Styles

Cell Styles applies predefined combinations of formatting to cells.

Examples include styles for headings, titles, input values, calculations, and highlighted cells.

6. Cells Group

The Cells group contains commands for inserting, deleting, and formatting worksheet cells, rows, columns, and sheets.

Insert

The Insert command allows you to insert cells, rows, columns, or a new worksheet.

For example, you can insert a new column when you need to add another field to a table.

Delete

The Delete command removes selected cells, rows, columns, or worksheets.

Be careful when deleting cells or worksheets because this may affect related data and formulas.

Format

The Format menu provides options for changing row height, column width, visibility, and worksheet organization.

You can use it to:

Adjust Row Height
Adjust Column Width
AutoFit Row Height
AutoFit Column Width
Hide or Unhide Rows and Columns
Rename or Move a Worksheet
Protect a Worksheet

The options shown may vary depending on the selected cells and worksheet.

7. Editing Group

The Editing group contains commands for calculating, filling, clearing, sorting, filtering, and finding data.

AutoSum

AutoSum helps you quickly insert a function such as SUM, AVERAGE, COUNT, MAX, or MIN.

For example, to calculate the total of values in cells B2 through B6, select the cell where you want the result and use:

=SUM(B2:B6)

Fill

The Fill command copies content or formulas into adjacent cells in a selected direction.

It can fill data down, up, left, or right.

Clear

The Clear command removes selected content or formatting. Depending on the option you choose, you can clear all content, formulas, formats, comments, or hyperlinks.

Sort & Filter

Sort & Filter helps you arrange records and display only data that meets particular conditions.

For example, you can sort student records by marks from largest to smallest or filter a list to show only a specific department.

Find & Select

Find & Select helps you locate specific text, numbers, formulas, or other content in a worksheet.

The Find command searches for a value, while Replace lets you substitute one value or text entry with another.

You can also use Go To to navigate directly to a specified cell or range.

Conclusion

The Home tab in MS Excel 2013 contains many useful tools for formatting, editing, and managing spreadsheet data. The Font group changes the appearance of cells, the Alignment group controls the position of content, the Number group formats values, and the Styles group helps highlight important information.

The Cells and Editing groups make it easier to organize records, insert or delete rows and columns, calculate totals, and search for data.

Understanding the Home tab is an important step toward learning Excel. Once you become familiar with these features, you can create more organized worksheets, mark sheets, salary slips, reports, and other useful spreadsheets.