I need to change all the negative numbers in a column from being in parenthesis to simple “- the number” format- that is change the column of numbers listed now as (11.00) to -11.00.
Change the number format. Currently it’s probably something like
#,##0.00_);(#,##0.00)
Select the column and invoke Format → Cells… (or Ctrl+1) and in tab Numbers from Number pick a different one, for example
#,##0.00Thanks for suggesting that. I’m pretty sure I followed those steps, clicked the number format -1234.57 listed a few times there but it did not change anything. Tried formatting a fresh column and pasting them in it and no change. Perhaps the ( ) dont let the number be seen?
Thanks again. Still learning the logic of calc. I tried the FAQ advice but it seemed to go somewhere else. I did see the " ’ " proceeding the ( )'s in the function box and when it was taken out in the function box that number went negative as desired. Can that be made into a formula somehow to just remove all the ’ from the entries in a column? Thanks
So your cell contents are text, not numeric. If you read the FAQ it explains that the ' apostrophe is not part of the cell content and it also says what to do to convert the text content into numeric content and it explains three ways how to do it. What else do you need??
I think the apostrophe had to be gotten rid of for that conversion to happen. I saw there were ways to do it in calc but the simplest way for me where I am with calc now was to copy and paste the column into wordpad which has no formatting and then put it back into the calc document column. That dropped the apostrophes out. The format cells command then recognized the bracketed numbers and made them all a - number. So anyway we are good now. Appreciate it alot…