Two best ways to convert numbers to words in Excel

In this article I will show you two quick and free ways to convert currency numbers into English words in Excel 2016, 2013 and other versions.

Microsoft Excel is a great program to calculate this and that. It was initially developed to process large data arrays. However, it also lets creating accounting records like invoices, evaluation or balance sheets quickly and effectively.

In more or less solid payment documents it is necessary to duplicate numeric values with their word form. It is much harder to falsify typed numbers than those written by hand. Some swindler can try to make 8000 out of 3000, while it is almost impossible to secretly replace "three" with "eight".

So what you need is not just convert numbers to words in Excel (е.g. 123.45 to "one hundred and twenty three, forty five"), but spell out dollars and cents (е.g. $29.95 as "twenty nine dollars and ninety nine cents" ), pounds and pence for GBP, euros and eurocents for EUR, etc.

Even Excel 2016 doesn't have a built-in tool for spelling numbers, not to mention earlier versions. But that is when Excel is really good. You can always improve its functionality using formulas in all their
combinations, VBA macros, or third-party add-ins.

Below you'll find two ways to convert numbers from figures to words

• SpellNumber VBA macro to convert a numeric value into English words
• Use an add-in to spell numbers to words

And, possibly, you may need to convert Words to Numbers in Excel

SpellNumber VBA macro to convert numbers to words

As I have already mentioned, Microsoft didn't want to add a tool for this task. However, when they saw how many users needed it, they created and published the special VBA macro on their website. The macro does what its name SpellNumber suggests. All other macros I came across are based on the Microsoft code.

You can find the macro mentioned as "spellnumber formula". However, it is not a formula, but a macro function, or to be more precise Excel User defined function (UDF).

The spellnumber option is able to write dollars and cents. If you need a different currency, you can change "dollar" and "cent" with the name of your one.

If you are not a VBA savvy guy, below you will find a copy of the code. If you still don't want or haven't time to sort this out, please use this solution.

1. Open the workbook where you need to spell the numbers.
2. Press Alt+F11 to open the Visual Basic editor window.
3. If you have several books opened, check that the needed workbook is active using the list of projects in the upper left corner of the editor (one of the workbook elements is highlighted with blue).
4. In the editor menu go to Insert-> Module.
   
5. You should see a window named YourBook - Module1. Select all of the code in the frame below and paste it to this window.
   

   Option Explicit
   'Main Function
   Function SpellNumber(ByVal MyNumber)
       Dim Dollars, Cents, Temp
       Dim DecimalPlace, Count
       ReDim Place(9) As String
       Place(2) = " Thousand "
       Place(3) = " Million "
       Place(4) = " Billion "
       Place(5) = " Trillion "
   
       MyNumber = Trim(Str(MyNumber))
       DecimalPlace = InStr(MyNumber, ".")
       If DecimalPlace > 0 Then
           Cents = GetTens(Left(Mid(MyNumber, DecimalPlace + 1) & _
                     "00", 2))
           MyNumber = Trim(Left(MyNumber, DecimalPlace - 1))
       End If
       Count = 1
       Do While MyNumber <> ""
           Temp = GetHundreds(Right(MyNumber, 3))
           If Temp <> "" Then Dollars = Temp & Place(Count) & Dollars
           If Len(MyNumber) > 3 Then
               MyNumber = Left(MyNumber, Len(MyNumber) - 3)
           Else
               MyNumber = ""
           End If
           Count = Count + 1
       Loop
       Select Case Dollars
           Case ""
               Dollars = "No Dollars"
           Case "One"
               Dollars = "One Dollar"
            Case Else
               Dollars = Dollars & " Dollars"
       End Select
       Select Case Cents
           Case ""
               Cents = " and No Cents"
           Case "One"
               Cents = " and One Cent"
                 Case Else
               Cents = " and " & Cents & " Cents"
       End Select
       SpellNumber = Dollars & Cents
   End Function
   
   Function GetHundreds(ByVal MyNumber)
       Dim Result As String
       If Val(MyNumber) = 0 Then Exit Function
       MyNumber = Right("000" & MyNumber, 3)
       ' Convert the hundreds place.
       If Mid(MyNumber, 1, 1) <> "0" Then
           Result = GetDigit(Mid(MyNumber, 1, 1)) & " Hundred "
       End If
       ' Convert the tens and ones place.
       If Mid(MyNumber, 2, 1) <> "0" Then
           Result = Result & GetTens(Mid(MyNumber, 2))
       Else
           Result = Result & GetDigit(Mid(MyNumber, 3))
       End If
       GetHundreds = Result
   End Function
   
   Function GetTens(TensText)
       Dim Result As String
       Result = "" ' Null out the temporary function value.
       If Val(Left(TensText, 1)) = 1 Then   ' If value between 10-19...
           Select Case Val(TensText)
               Case 10: Result = "Ten"
               Case 11: Result = "Eleven"
               Case 12: Result = "Twelve"
               Case 13: Result = "Thirteen"
               Case 14: Result = "Fourteen"
               Case 15: Result = "Fifteen"
               Case 16: Result = "Sixteen"
               Case 17: Result = "Seventeen"
               Case 18: Result = "Eighteen"
               Case 19: Result = "Nineteen"
               Case Else
           End Select
       Else ' If value between 20-99...
           Select Case Val(Left(TensText, 1))
               Case 2: Result = "Twenty "
               Case 3: Result = "Thirty "
               Case 4: Result = "Forty "
               Case 5: Result = "Fifty "
               Case 6: Result = "Sixty "
               Case 7: Result = "Seventy "
               Case 8: Result = "Eighty "
               Case 9: Result = "Ninety "
               Case Else
           End Select
           Result = Result & GetDigit _
               (Right(TensText, 1))  ' Retrieve ones place.
       End If
       GetTens = Result
   End Function
   
   Function GetDigit(Digit)
       Select Case Val(Digit)
           Case 1: GetDigit = "One"
           Case 2: GetDigit = "Two"
           Case 3: GetDigit = "Three"
           Case 4: GetDigit = "Four"
           Case 5: GetDigit = "Five"
           Case 6: GetDigit = "Six"
           Case 7: GetDigit = "Seven"
           Case 8: GetDigit = "Eight"
           Case 9: GetDigit = "Nine"
           Case Else: GetDigit = ""
       End Select
   End Function
   

6. Press Ctrl+S to save the updated workbook.

   You will need to resave your workbook. When you try to save the workbook with a macro you'll get the message "The following features cannot be saved in macro-free workbook"

   

   Click No. When you see a new dialog, chose the Save as option. In the field "Save as type" pick the option "Excel macro-enabled workbook".

   

Use SpellNumber macro in your worksheets

Now you can use the function SpellNumber in your Excel documents. Enter =SpellNumber(A2) into the cell where you need to get the number written in words. Here A2 is the address of the cell with the number or amount.

Here you can see the result:

Voila!

Quickly copy the SpellNumber function to other cells.

If you need to convert the entire table, not just 1 cell, place your mouse cursor to the lower right corner of the cell with the formula until it turns into a small black cross:

Left-click and drag it across the column to fill in the formula. Release the button to see the results:

Disadvantages of using macro to spell numbers in Excel

First off, you must know VBA to modify the code according to your needs. It is necessary to paste the code for each workbook, where you plan to change it. Otherwise, you will need to create a template file with macros and configure Excel to load this file at each start.

The main disadvantage of using a macro is if you send the workbook to somebody else, this person will not see the text unless the macro is built into the workbook. And even if it's built-in, they will get an alert that there are macros in the workbook.

Free ready-to-use add-in to spell numbers into words

For active Excel users who need to quickly spell sums but don't want to learn VBA or other workarounds, one kind developer created a free add-in - POPUP SPELL NUMBER for Microsoft Excel

Besides being ready for use, the tool is really flexible in converting numbers. You can choose the text case of the result (lower case, Title Case, Sentence case, UPPER CASE ), also you can select how you want to see the fraction:

• Spells the fraction in cent/cents, оr penny/pennies, оr penny/pence, or centavo/centavos
• Spells decimal point, each zero and the rest of the number as an integer.
• Doesn't spell the fraction but writes it as a fraction with denominator of 100, 1000, 1000000

Feel free to explore its possibilities on the product's home page.

The author states that it's tested and works in Excel for Windows 2000, 2002(XP), 2003, 2007, 2010 (32-bit), and 2013 (32-bit) in MSI-based and Click-To-Run installations of Office 365 cloud-based services.

And all is wonderful about POPUP SPELL NUMBER, but...

I hate to say that the add-in doesn't work with 64-bit versions of Excel 2010, 2013, 2007. And it is a considerable obstacle since these versions are becoming more and more popular. So lucky you are if you have Excel 32-bit :) Feel free to download the add-in and check it out.

If you are the one with Excel 64-bit like me, drop the author a line and ask him for a special version.

Reverse conversion - English words into numbers

Frankly, I can't imagine why you may need it. Just in case... :)

It appears that Excel MVP, Jerry Latham, created such Excel User defined function (UDF) as WordsToDigits. It converts English words back to number.

You can download Jerry's WordsToDigits workbook to see the UDF code. Here you'll also find his examples of how to use the function.

You can see how the function works on the sheet "Sample Entries", where you will also be able to enter your own examples. If you plan to employ WordsToDigits in your documents, please be informed that this function has restrictions. For example, it doesn't recognize fractions entered in words. You will find all the details on the "Information" sheet.

See also

• Merge Excel worksheets by matching data
• Combine Excel sheets with the same name into one
• 60+ smart tools for Excel 2016-2007 to do your daily work