The right formatting and style can make all the difference when presenting information. With the correct formatting, your data will reach your users in a more efficient way. Pigment has broad formatting and styling options including the specific cells, font style, value displaying, and colors within a Table, Metric or List. This article covers Static formatting for Grid and KPI display modes, we have other articles for Conditional and Layout options.
Where can you apply formatting?
Formatting can be applied to Lists, Metrics, and Tables in Grid or KPI display mode. When applying Static formatting, you are applying it to a specific view. This allows you to have multiple views with different formatting. If you apply formatting while in Grid display mode and switch over to the KPI view, the formatting will remain, and vice versa.
Formatting is stored at the view level, meaning any applied formatting must be saved to a view. When adding blocks to a board, its important to select the correct view that has the desired formatting applied to it.
How to apply formatting?
You can apply formatting in two ways. Both ways require you either to open the block or to be in the expanded view from a Board. Select the cells or header you want to apply formatting to, then right-clicking and select Format Cells. This will open up a pop-up with formatting options. You can also open up the Format panel by clicking Format at the top. This option allows you to select the cells or headers you want to apply after. Once opened, you’ll see a Static and Conditional heading, this article will focus on static. To learn more about conditional formatting, check out this article.

Formatting specific cells
You can also use all the display options for a specific cell.
Right-click on the cell you want to format and you will see all the options available. If you want to select more than one cell, hold down Command / Control key and you can select more than one cell. Once you select the formatting options, these cells will start pulsing to indicate which have been selected.

Formatting headers
You can also format grid headers. When you click on a header it will select the corresponding column(s)/row(s). Right-click on it and select "Format cells". By default, this will be applied to all the selected cells except the header. To also apply this formatting to headers, check the Header radio button.

Currently, if you only want only the header to be formatted, must select the header options format the entire row/column and then apply another format option without Header selected.
Formatting multiple Blocks at the same time
You can use Control/Command + Clicking to select multiple Blocks at the same time to apply consistent formatting to all of them. You can also select the Repeated Items option to format multiple instances of an item within a grid. For example, if you have a table that uses a country dimension in multiple Metrics, if you highlight a particular country and select Repeated Items, it will format every instance that country appears, even if that item is not visible at the time. Y
Static Format Options & Tools
Header - When selected the header will also be formatted. Repeated items - Applies formatting to every instance that a Metric or item is repeated throughout the entire Metric or Table, even if selections are not visible when applied. Reset - this will reset all static formatting applied to the selection. Select all cells - this will select all cells, it will not include headers unless the headers option is selected. | ![]()
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Background and Text color - If the chain is on, the text and the background will be harmonized. Click on the chain if you prefer a different customization Font - B for bold I for italic Cell borders - will apply a board to selected walls. The selection will apply to each individual cell that is highlighted. Values Decimal - Removes or adds a decimal to the selected cells Prefix - Text is added before the value Suffix - Text is added after the value Multiplier - Display values in :
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Zero value - Select the value you want to show for zero. Options are Positive Numbers - Select the value you want to show for positive values. Negative value - Select the value you want to show for negative values. Options available are, Reverse signs - Activate the option to multiply by 1000 separator - Activate the option if you want to display a thousand separator. | ![]()
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Using a Suffix for easier entering of multiplied data
Formatted cells that have a multiplier, such as billion, can be combined with a suffix to make it easier for Members to enter data. Members can simply enter a number combined with the suffix and Pigment will automatically apply the multiplier.
For example, if I have a cell with a thousand multiplier and a k suffix, I can enter 5k and the value will be entered as 5000.
This works with any multiplier and suffix combination.