Find & Replace

N

NH

Simple newbie problem here: All I want to do is get rid of all dashes (-) in
one column of numbers. I've been able to do this before with no problem by
using Replace to replace "-" with nothing. But now for some reason Excel
can't find the dashes. Please tell me what I'm doing wrong before I pull
out my remaining hair.

Thanks,

NH
 
N

NH

Columns A, B and C were totaled together in column D. Column D is the one I
can't remove the dash from. I CAN remove the dashes from other columns with
numbers, so it's only a problem with D. I suspect I need to get rid of
those green triangles in the upper left corner of the cells, but I don't
know how to do that.

NH
 
D

Dave Peterson

When you select a cell that has the dashes you can't get rid of, what do you see
in the formulabar?

I'm wondering if it's the number format (Format|cells|number category) that's
just displaying the dashes--maybe those dashes aren't really part of the cell's
value.
 
N

NH

When you select a cell that has the dashes you can't get rid of, what do
you see
in the formulabar?
Click to expand...

I see "=SUM(F11:H11)" or whatever letter/number corresponds to the
row/column.
I'm wondering if it's the number format (Format|cells|number category)
that's
just displaying the dashes--maybe those dashes aren't really part of the
cell's
value.
Click to expand...

I know that they're supposed to be negative numbers. Column A consists of
negative numbers and I added columns A, B and C together, which created
negative totals in column D. But now I just want to remove those dashes in
D so that they don't display as negative numbers. I know there's a simple
answer for this, having to do with the formatting or something.

Thanks for the help.

NH
 
P

Pete_UK

If they are negative numbers and you want them to be positive you can
use this formula in D1:

=ABS(SUM(A1:C1)) or =ABS(A1+B1+C1)

whichever formula you use to sum A B and C together.

Hope this helps.

Pete
 
N

NH

I want the totals in column D to remain as they are. I simply want to
remove the dash in those numbers so that a tax program of mine doesn't see
them as negative numbers.

Sorry if I misunderstood your suggestion--I'm very new to Excel. Thanks for
the reply.

NH
 
N

NH

So after wasting hours on this, I simply saved the sheet, closed it, and
opened it again. The green corners in the column cells are now gone and I
can find and replace the dash with no problem. There HAD to be another
simple way to do this.

NH
 
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