How to Enter Formulas in Excel to Show Not Less Than Zero

Techwalla may earn compensation through affiliate links in this story. Learn more about our affiliate and product review process here.

There are several ways to prevent values less than zero from displaying in Microsoft Excel. You can use conditional formatting to change the color of the cell to hide the value. Using this method retains the value in the cell so you can use it in other formulas. Alternatively, you can convert negative numbers into blank cells or dashes. Using this method does not retain the value in the cell.

Advertisement

Hide Negative Values With Conditional Formatting

Video of the Day

Step 1

Select the cell(s) in your Excel spreadsheet you wish to format.

Video of the Day

Step 2

Click "Conditional Formatting" under the "Format" menu.

Advertisement

Step 3

Select "Cell value is" from the first drop-down menu for Condition 1.

Step 4

Select "less than or equal to" from the second drop-down menu.

Step 5

Enter 0 in the next box.

Advertisement

Step 6

Click on the Format button and select white in the color drop-down menu. If the background color of your cells is something other than white, select a color that will blend in and make it appear as if the cell is empty.

Step 7

Click OK. Any cells you have applied this conditional formatting to will appear to be blank if the value in the cell is equal to or less than zero. If you place your cursor in the cell you will be able to see the cell's actual value in the formula bar at the top of the worksheet.

Advertisement

Display Negative Values As Blank Cells or Dashes

Step 1

Use the IF function to specify the format of a result that is equal to or less than zero. The syntax of the IF function is IF(logical_test,value_if_true,value_if_false)

Advertisement

Step 2

Enter 1 in cell A1 and enter 2 in cell A2 of your worksheet.

Advertisement

Step 3

Create an IF formula in cell A3 by typing: =IF(A1-A2>0,A1-A2,"-"). In this example the logical test is whether cell A1 minus cell A2 is greater than zero. If it is the "value_if_true" it will display; if it isn't, the "value_if_false" will display. In our formula we defined the value_if_true as the difference between cells A1 and A2 and the value_if_false as a dash. Therefore, if A1-A2 is zero or less you'll see a dash in cell A3, if the result is positive, you will see a number.

Step 4

Change the values in cells A1 and A2 to see how it affects what displays in cell A3.

Advertisement

Advertisement

references & resources