MS Excel: FIXED function to round and format a number as text
- Fakhriddinbek
- May 2
- 2 min read
The FIXED function in Excel is used to round and format a number as text, with a fixed number of decimal places and optional commas for thousands separators. It’s often used in reporting or exporting financial or statistical data where you want consistent, readable formatting—but don’t want the result treated as a number.
This function is especially helpful in:
Creating clean financial reports
Exporting data in human-readable formats
Converting numbers to standardized string formats
Syntax
=FIXED(number, [decimals], [no_commas])
Parameters:
Argument | Description |
number | The number you want to round and convert to text |
[decimals] | (Optional) The number of digits after the decimal point (default is 2) |
[no_commas] | (Optional) If TRUE, commas are not included; if FALSE or omitted, commas are used |
Examples with Tables
Example 1: Basic Formatting
=FIXED(1234.567)
Formula | Output |
=FIXED(1234.567) | "1,234.57" |
Rounds to 2 decimals and includes commas.
Example 2: No Decimal Places
=FIXED(1234.567, 0)
Formula | Output |
=FIXED(1234.567, 0) | "1,235" |
Example 3: No Commas
=FIXED(1234.567, 2, TRUE)
Formula | Output |
=FIXED(1234.567, 2, TRUE) | "1234.57" |
Example 4: Negative Decimal Places
=FIXED(9876.543, -2)
Formula | Output |
=FIXED(9876.543, -2) | "9,900" |
Rounds to the nearest hundred.
FIXED vs ROUND vs TEXT
Function | Returns Text | Rounding | Custom Format | Keeps Commas |
FIXED | ✅ Yes | ✅ Yes | ❌ No | ✅ Optional |
ROUND | ❌ No | ✅ Yes | ❌ No | ❌ No |
TEXT | ✅ Yes | ✅ Yes | ✅ Yes | ✅ Yes |
Summary
Feature | Detail |
Function Name | FIXED |
Purpose | Round number and format as text |
Case Sensitivity | N/A |
Returns | Text |
Keeps Decimals | ✅ Based on argument |
Includes Commas | ✅ Optional |
Common Use Cases | Reporting, exporting, formatting outputs |
Important Notes
The result is a text value, not a number—you cannot use it for math unless you convert it back with VALUE.
FIXED is not affected by cell formatting; the output always appears exactly as returned.
If you need currency formatting, use DOLLAR or TEXT with a currency format.
Related Functions
Function | Purpose |
ROUND | Rounds to a specified number of digits |
TEXT | Formats numbers with full control as text |
DOLLAR | Similar to FIXED but with a currency symbol |
VALUE | Converts text to a number |
Final Thoughts
The FIXED function is a simple but powerful tool for formatting numbers into readable, standardized text—perfect for documentation, printed reports, and exporting to systems that require fixed-format text values.
Comments