How to Convert Decimals to Feet and Inches in Excel

by C. Taylor
Excel can display feet and inches as decimals or fractions.

Excel can display feet and inches as decimals or fractions.

Hemera Technologies/ Images

A single, decimal figure offers convenience when calculating, but units of feet and inches are the norm. If your business works with construction supplies, clothing or room dimensions, you will inevitably encounter customers or workers expecting units of feet and inches. Although Microsoft Excel doesn't offer a one-step conversion function, combining several of its functions allows you to extract the required measurements. After extracting the numbers, you can combine them into a textual display that uses familiar apostrophes and quotes as shorthand for feet and inches, respectively.


Enter the decimal measurement in cell A1 of Microsoft Excel. As an example, enter "5.792" in cell A1.


Enter "=RoundDown(A1,0)" in cell B1 to extract the number of feet. In the example, cell B1 displays "5."


Enter "=Mod(A1,1)*12" in cell C1 to convert the remainder into inches. In the example, "9.504" appears in cell C1.


Click cell "C1" to select it again. Click the "General" drop-down menu in the Number group and select "Fraction." Doing so displays decimal inches in commonly used fractions. This changes the example's result to "9 1/2."


Enter the following code in cell D1 to display the results in a single text cell:

=B1&"' "&TEXT(C1,"0 #/##")&CHAR(34)

Doing so displays the following result in cell D1:

5' 9 1/2"

Photo Credits

  • Hemera Technologies/ Images
bibliography-icon icon for annotation tool Cite this Article