How to Keep a Trailing Zero in the Second Decimal Place in Excel

Excel drops a zero at the end of a decimal, like showing 2.5 instead of 2.50, because cells use the General number format by default. To keep the zero, select the cells and click Increase Decimal on the Home tab until you see two decimal places. Or format the cells as Number or Currency with 2 decimal places.

Microsoft’s Available number formats in Excel page explains that General is the default format and displays numbers mostly the way you type them, so a trailing zero isn’t kept. The steps below come from Microsoft’s Round a number to the decimal places I want in Excel article.

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How to Keep the Second Decimal Place in Excel

Select the cells with your numbers.
On the Home tab, in the Number group, click the arrow next to the number format list.
Click More Number Formats.
Choose Number, or Currency for money.
Set Decimal places to 2 and click OK.

Result: 2.5 shows as 2.50, and 3 shows as 3.00. Microsoft notes the Number format also lets you choose a thousands separator and how negative numbers look.

Steps to keep the second decimal place in Excel — Illustration: the steps to keep the second decimal place in Excel.

Quicker Way: Increase Decimal

Select the cells.
Go to Home > Number.
Click Increase Decimal until two digits show after the decimal point.

Result: Microsoft says each click shows one more digit after the decimal point. Decrease Decimal, right next to it, shows fewer.

Money and Percentages

Currency: Microsoft says this format adds your default currency symbol and lets you choose the number of decimal places.
Accounting: also for money, but it lines up the currency symbols and decimal points in a column.
Percentage: multiplies the value by 100, adds a % sign, and lets you choose the decimal places, so 0.125 can show as 12.50%.

Use the Format Cells Dialog

Microsoft lists Ctrl + 1 as a shortcut to open Format Cells, where you can select Number and set the decimal places. You can also right-click the cells and choose Format Cells.

Use a Custom Number Format

You can select the cells, press Ctrl + 1, choose Custom, and type a format code in the Type box. Its example $#,##0.00 displays two decimal places with a currency symbol and thousands separators. Leave off the dollar sign, as in #,##0.00, for plain numbers.

Other ways to keep trailing zeros in Excel — Illustration: other ways to keep trailing zeros in Excel.

Keep Zeros in Version Numbers or Codes

Some numbers aren’t really numbers, like software versions where 10.1 and 10.10 mean different things. Try formatting those cells as Text. Microsoft says the Text format displays a cell’s content exactly as you type it, even numbers.

Does This Change the Actual Number?

No. Number formats only change how a value looks. To actually round a value, use a function like =ROUND(A2,2), which Microsoft covers in Round a number.

Troubleshooting

The cell shows ######

Microsoft notes that extra decimal places can cause ###### when the column isn’t wide enough. Widen the column, or AutoFit it.

The number still looks rounded

According to Microsoft, the General format rounds decimals when the cell isn’t wide enough to show the whole number. Widen the column or set a fixed number of decimal places.

FAQs

Can I make Excel add the decimal point for me?

Yes. Microsoft describes File > Options > Advanced > Automatically insert a decimal point. In Microsoft’s example, with 3 in the Places box, typing 2834 enters 2.834.

Does this work in Excel for the web?

Microsoft’s number formats page applies to Excel for Windows and the web, so the Number format and decimal places options are available in both.

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Matthew Burleigh

Matthew Burleigh has been writing tech tutorials since 2008. His writing has appeared on dozens of different websites and been read hundreds of millions of times.

After receiving his Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees in Computer Science he spent several years working in IT management for small businesses. However, he now works full time writing content online and creating websites.

His main writing topics include iPhones, Microsoft Office, Google Apps, Android, and Photoshop, but he has also written about many other tech topics as well.