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How to format the cell value red if negative and green if positive in Excel?

Author: Xiaoyang Last Modified: 2024-04-28

If there are a long list of numbers in your worksheet, now, you want to format the negative values as red font and positive numbers ad green font for viewing them easier. In Excel, there are some methods for dealing with this job quickly and easily.

Format the cell value red if negative and green if positive with Format Cells function

Format the cell value red if negative and green if positive with Kutools AI Aide

Format the cell value red if negative and green if positive with Conditional Formatting function


Format the cell value red if negative and green if positive with Format Cells function

The Format Cells function in Excel can help you to format the values as specific color based on the positive or negative numbers, please do as this:

1. Select the list of cells that you want to use, and then right click to choose Format Cells from the context menu, see screenshot:

2. In the Format Cells dialog box, click Custom from the Category list pane, and then enter [Green]General;[Red]-General;0 into the Type text box, see screenshot:

Note: General means positive numbers, -General indicates negative numbers, [Green], [Red] are the font colors you want, you can change the font color to your need. For example, you can use [Blue], [Yellow] etc.

3. Then click OK button, the negative numbers format as red font, and positive numbers are changed to green font, see screenshot:


Format the cell value red if negative and green if positive with Kutools AI Aide

Enhance your Excel experience with Kutools for Excel's AI Aide. In just a few simple steps, automatically format negative numbers in red and positive numbers in green, providing a clear and efficient way to distinguish between data values. Experience the simplicity and efficiency of data analysis with Kutools for Excel today!

Note: To use this Kutools AI Aide of Kutools for Excel, please download and install Kutools for Excel first.

After installing Kutools for Excel, please click Kutools AI > AI Aide to open the Kutools AI Aide pane:

  1. Select the data list, then type your requirement into the chat box, and click Send button or press Enter key to send the question;
  2. After analyzing, click Execute button to run. Kutools AI Aide will process your request using AI and return the results directly in Excel.


Format the cell value red if negative and green if positive with Conditional Formatting function

In Excel, to solve this task, the Conditional Formatting also can do you a favor, please do as this:

1. Select the numbers that you want to use, and then click Home > Conditional Formatting > Greater Than, see screenshot:

2. In the Greater Than box, enter 0 into the text box, and then choose Custom Format from the drop down list, see screenshot:

3. Then, in the popped out Format Cells dialog box, click Font tab, and then choose one color that you want to use, see screenshot:

4. And then, click OK button, and close the Greater Than box, the positive numbers have been formatted a specific font color you like.

5. Then, please go on clicking Home > Conditional Formatting > Less Than, in the Less Than box, enter 0 into the text box, and then choose Red Text from the drop down list, see screenshot:

6. And all the negative numbers have been formatted as red font at once.


More relative number format articles:

  • Format Numbers In Thousands, Million Or Billions In Excel
  • Supposing, you have a list of large numbers, now, you want to format them in thousands, millions or billions to make them look neat and concise as following screenshot shown. This article, I will talk about how to format numbers in thousands, millions or billions quickly in Excel.
  • Format Number As Ordinal (1st 2nd 3rd ) In Excel
  • In some cases, we need to format number as 1st, 2nd, 3rd, etc. when we rank as below screenshot shown. However, do you know how to format these cardinal numbers as ordinal numbers in Excel? In general, there is no built-in function to convert number as 1st in Excel, but, here I can introduce some tricks on this problem.
  • Apply Data Validation To Force Phone Number Format In Excel
  • May be, there are various phone number formats can be used when typing into the Excel workbook. But, how could you only allow one phone number format to be entered in a column of worksheet? For example, I just want the phone number as this format 123-456-7890 to be allowed entering in a worksheet.

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Comments (12)
Rated 5 out of 5 · 1 ratings
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C'est super bien expliqué, merci bcp!
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IGNORE MY COMMENT, I WAS NOT PAYING ATTENTION TO THE CONDITIONAL FORMATTING BIT... This is bloody brilliant! thank you
Rated 5 out of 5
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HI all,
This is brilliant, however, i had the format as accounting or currency, but now, with the above formula for pos and neg, it gets rid of the accounting as part of the format and just goes back to normal.
any suggestions that i can type in along with the [Color10]General;[Red]-General;0 in order to still make it work with accounting/currency?
thanks :)
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I formatted the cells to be currency with negatives in red with parenthesis, utilizing the basic settings under Currency tab on Format Cells screen. Then I went to Custom tab at bottom of Format box, and it shows the custom formula for what you've chosen. Simply type [Green] or [Color10] at the very beginning of the custom box under "Type", no spaces, and your positive values should now display green with currency formatting.
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Hejsa

er det muligt at formatere, så hvis A3 bliver grøn så bliver A1 også grøn???
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Er det muligt, at formatere, så hvis jeg gør A3 grøn så bliver A1 automatisk grøn?
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Dear Team , same row two cell values are same displayed OK Button and Next Cell Green Indicator other wise displayed in RED Indictor 
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In LibreOffice I found [color10] was blue and [color3] is a darker green
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how can you get a darker color GREEN...the default is fluorescent and hard to see for older eyes!
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Instead of Green use words color10 ... you will get your required green colorand not the fluroscent one
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Thank you! I was looking for this!
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Thanks this helps me too
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