Negative numbers turn positive automatically on data entry

J

Jerri

When I try to enter a negative number into excel, the number turns positive
as soon as I enter it. I have tried deleting book1.xlt to remove any bogus
formatting but this problem appears to be some sort of default setting that I
do not know about.
 
D

Dave Peterson

After the number turns positive, what do you see in the formula bar for that
cell?

If it still shows negative there, then maybe it's just a formatting problem.

Format|cells|number tab|make it general.

If it really shows positive, then it sounds like you may have a macro that's
helping out.

Can you reopen your workbook with macros disabled and see what happens?
 
J

Jerri

Thanks for responding Dave !

+1 appears in the formula bar. Here is the sequence of events...

I open a new blank workbook.
I select cell A1
I hit the negative key -
I hit the number one 1
The number changes to a positive one +1
and then reads as 1
It is as if excel will not accept negative numbers or it is converting - to
positive as if i were using the abs function...but i am not. I use excel for
office 97 at work all day long and I have not seen this before. This is my
mother's computer and she is running Excel 2002. I tried holding down the
shift key when starting excel to prevent Macros from running but that did not
work. I have looked at conditional formatting, deleting all default templates
and the absolute function but none of these seem to be the problem. I may
just re-install Office to see if that does the trick. Please respond !

I tried
 
D

Dave Peterson

Maybe it's a autocorrect entry.
tools|autocorrect options
look for - to see if it's replaced with anything/nothing

(or even look for -1)

===
If that's not it, take a look under your windows regional settings (under
control panel). Then Number tab.

Does everything look normal there?
 
J

Jerri

DAVE PETERSON IS THE MAN !

Autocorrect turned out to be the culprit. I have never used it before but
boy, I sure know about it now. Thanks Dave !
 
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