3 Ways to Add Degree Formatting in Excel (with video tutorial)

We may be compensated for your purchase of any of the products featured on this page – it helps us keep the lights on :)

You may have wondered if there’s a way to display degrees in Excel for temperatures – other than writing “Degree” somewhere on your spreadsheet. As it turns out, there is! Take a look at the options below on how to add degree formatting in Excel.

How to Add Degree Formatting in Excel

WATCH: 3 Ways to Add a Degree Symbol in Excel – Tutorial

Insert a Degree Symbol Using the Alt+0176 Keyboard Shortcut

To add a degree symbol in Excel using your keyboard, you will need to have a keyboard with a numeric pad.

NOTE: This shortcut does not work if you press the numbers along the top of your keyboard.

There are 2 ways you can add degree formatting using Alt+0176 from your keyboard:

1.      Apply Degree Formatting to a Single Cell in Excel

To add the degree symbol to a single cell, simply select the cell you want to add the degree symbol to and step into the cell.

You can step into the cell either by pressing F2 or typing in the Formula Bar.

Then, while pressing the Alt key, press 0176 (in that order) on your number pad.

2.      Apply Degree Formatting to Multiple Cells in Excel

To add the degree symbol to multiple cells, first, select the cells you want to add the degree symbol to.

With the cells selected, right-click and select Format Cells.

From the Number tab, select Custom.

In the Type field box, select or type either 0, 0.0, or 0.00 (depending on how many decimals you want to show). Then press Alt+0176 – again, using your number pad.

If you have additional cells you still need to format as a degree, you can use Format Painter to copy the formatting to them.

FYI, Format Painter only works if you’ve set the Formatting using the Custom Number Formatting. Oddly enough, it does not copy the formatting when using the other methods.

No number pad? No worries! Read on for a few ways you can apply degree formatting without using the number pad.

Use a CHAR Function to Create a Degree Symbol

The CHAR functions reference characters used by Windows in (much) older operating systems.

CHAR(176) creates a degree symbol!

There are a few ways you can go about using this function to add the degree symbol.

Adding an = sign at the beginning of your cell, combine the number with CHAR by using &.

It should look something like this: =A1&CHAR(176)

For multiple cells, you can create an area adjacent to the cells you need to format. Then, referencing each cell that needs the degree symbol, add &CHAR(176) to it. You can then display the result of this or copy the results as values and paste over the originals.

Insert a Degree Symbol From the Symbol Options

With your cell in the location where you’d like to insert the degree symbol, click on the Insert tab, then on Symbol.

TIP: An important thing to keep in mind when using the Symbol options is that the appearance of the symbols varies by the font chosen. For best results, you should use a symbol of the same font as your document.

Once you select the desired font, either scroll to look for the degree symbol or type 00B0 in the Character Code field box and click Insert to insert the degree symbol in the selected cell.

Apply Degree Formatting in Excel Mobile App

Working on the go? Here’s how you can apply degree formatting on your mobile device:

Apple users: After you type the number, press the 0 key and hold it down. The ° will display. Just select it.

Android users: Switch to the numbers and symbols keyboard and press the ALT key. The degrees symbol will be on the second row.

Need to convert your temperatures from Fahrenheit to Celsius (or vice versa?) take a look at how you can do this in Excel using the CONVERT function.

---