ETYM French or German Cf. Formation.
1. The general appearance of a publication.
2. The organization of information according to preset specifications (usually for computer processing); SYN. formatting, data format, data formatting.

1. To determine the arrangement of (data) for storage and display (in computer science).
2. To divide (a disk) into marked sectors so that it may store data; SYN. initialize.
3. To set into a specific format; of printed matter; SYN. arrange.

1. In general, the structure or appearance of a unit of data.
2. The arrangement of data within a document file that typically permits the document to be read or written by a certain application. Many applications can store a file in a more generic format, such as plain ASCII text.
3. The layout of data storage areas (tracks and sectors) on a disk.
4. The order and types of fields in a database.
5. The attributes of a cell in a spreadsheet, such as its being alphabetic or numeric, the number of digits, the use of commas, and the use of currency signs. 6. The specifications for the placement of text on a page or in a paragraph.

1. To change the appearance of selected text or the contents of a selected cell in a spreadsheet.
2. To prepare a disk for use by organizing its storage space into a collection of data “compartments,” each of which can be located by the operating system so that data can be sorted and retrieved. When a previously used disk is formatted, any preexisting information on it is lost.