Quick formatting for negative numbers

[Mulepadre]

Hi,
I am new to Excel and am amazed at its complexity!
Correct my vocabulary... but here is what I want to do.

I have a simple balance sheet summing the values of two columns: the
one negative and the other positive.
I want to format the numbers for the 'negative' column (with
parenthesis) in order that they will give me negative values.
What is the simplest "function?" I can write to quickly format all
those numbers at once?

thanks,
Mike

 

[Pete_UK]

You can highlight the cells where you want the format to be in effect
then click on Format | Cells | number (tab) and select Currency - here
you will see 4 sample formats - just click on the one you want (you
might want negative to be in red as well as in parenthesis), then click
OK.

Hope this helps.

Pete

 

[Peo Sjoblom]

If you click format in the menu and select cells, then number and in the
box you see 2 formats using parenthesis, select one of them depending on if
you want to change colour as well (US excel 2003 settings)

--

Regards,

Peo Sjoblom

Northwest Excel Solutions

www.nwexcelsolutions.com

(remove ^^ from email address)

Portland, Oregon