I cannot find any option to show negative number in Excel O365.

Hello Henry! I'm Jen, an independent advisor and a Microsoft user like you. I'd be happy to help you out with this issue.

There are various ways on how you can display negative numbers in excel. It could be by using the minus sign, parentheses, or by applying a red color (with or without parentheses). For more information on how to do this, you may visit the link below.

https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/office/chan...

If you want to display negative numbers with parentheses but excel is not displaying it, you may use one of the following solutions provided in the link below to change the negative number format. Another option is to create a custom format. Choose Format Cells > Custom > Paste this into the Type Box #,##0_);(#,##0) . That should display negative numbers in parentheses.

https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/office/nega...

I hope this information helps.

If you have any questions, please let me know and I'd be glad to assist you further.

Thank you and Best Regards!
Jen :)

Thanks Jen but it does not work. I just don't understand what's wrong with Microsoft. This is very common feature in the business world but they removed it. They create a product that ask people to fit into it or should they create a product that meets people's need? I just don't understand.

Hi Henry,

Sorry to hear about that. I'll try to help you with this. I don't think this option got removed, there's probably some formatting issues or maybe your excel version is out-of-date. Have you tried the methods I've shared to you earlier? May I know how you want the negative numbers to be displayed (parenthesis or minus sign)? When you go to Format Cells > Numbers , what are the options do you see? Could you please take a screenshot of it? That way, I'd be able to assist you better. I'm looking forward to your reply with the requested information. Thanks in advance.

Meanwhile, Kindly check if you have the latest office version installed. If not, open excel > Go to File > Account > Under Product Information, click on "Update Options" > Select "Update Now" to install the latest updates.

Thank you and Best Regards!
Jen :)

The feature is still there. It is a simple matter of formatting the cell to display the negative value in the way you wish.

There are a few ways of applying formatting

!  Custom Number Format Guide  POSITIVE ; NEGATIVE ; ZERO ; TEXT
https://www.myonlinetraininghub.com/excel-custom-number-format-guide
Number formatting in Excel is used to specify how a value should appear in a cell or chart, but it doesn’t alter the underlying value that you can see in the formula bar. Unless of course you format a number as text, in which case it can no longer be treated as a number in math formulas.
ET MR Custom & Conditional Formats.docx.

! Custom Number Format Structure Reference
https://exceljet.net/custom-number-formats
Excel custom number formats have a specific structure. Each number format can have up to four sections, separated with semi-colons as follows:
1;                         2;                       3;      4  ie
[Blue]#,##0.00_) ; [Red](#,##0.00) ; 0.00 ; “Sales “@
Where:
   1 => Positive values
   2 => Negative values
   3 => Zero values
   4 => Text values
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If you can share a simple example file we can take a look at it and try to figure out what went wrong.

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In the file, tell us what steps you take to create the negative number format.

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Tell us what you see and what you expect to see (so we don't have to guess).

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Trouble shooting problems in files can be like a visit to the dentist, a long, slow painful process of us trying to “extract” the clues needed to recognize the problem in a back and forth flow of questions and answers so that we can come up with a / “the” solution.

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Often it is faster and easier for everyone if we have a “sample file” get "hands on", to look at, and to “play with”.

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This next link provides some tips on setting up a sample file and specific instructions for uploading and "sharing" it for us to access:

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https://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/forum/windows_other-winapps/trouble-shooting-share-onedrive-file/a231a097-bcbf-4e34-ad6c-a33118baf471

 

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That article links to macros to randomize text in Word and numbers in Excel

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This article describes another way of sharing Office files:

2020 03 09- Share a cloud stored document from Microsoft Office
https://office-watch.com/2020/share-cloud-stored-document-microsoft-office/
Using “Invites” to specific people from inside Office apps. Modify document access permissions and add a “note” with “how to” instructions for recipient

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