How To Change Positive Numbers To Negative In Excel

You can watch a video tutorial here.

Excel is widely used for calculations because of its convenient format and ease of performing arithmetic operations. You may need to convert a single number or a column of numbers from positive to negative. While you can go to each number and insert the minus sign in front of it, this can be time-consuming if you have a long list of numbers.

Option 1 – Using a formula

Step 1 – Create the formula

Select the destination cell for the negative number
Type the formula using cell references
- = Positive * -1
Press Enter

Step 2 – Copy the formula

Using the fill handle from the first cell, drag the formula to the remaining cells

Select the cell with the formula and press Ctrl+C or choose Copy from the context menu (right-click)
Select the rest of the cells in the column and press Ctrl+V or choose Paste from the context menu (right-click)

Step 3 – Check the result

The positive numbers are converted to negative

Option 2 – Use Paste Special

Step 1 – Copy the value

Copy the positive values into a neighboring column
Enter -1 (minus one) in a cell outside the column
Copy the -1 by pressing Ctrl+C or by right-clicking and selecting Copy from the context menu
Select the positive values that were copied