# Excel question - displaying a plus sign **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [November 22, 2005, 5:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/excel-question-displaying-a-plus-sign/332211 "2005-11-22T05:28:44Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 10\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Dunderman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ecb155/32.png) [@Dunderman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dunderman)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 2005, 5:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/excel-question-displaying-a-plus-sign/332211/1 "2005-11-22T05:28:44Z")
I want Microsoft Excel to display a plus sign in front of positive numbers, but still be able to deal with the numbers as numbers. Now, if I enter “+2” in a cell, Excel changes it to “2”, and the only way to change that is to tell Excel to treat it as text rather than as a number, and then it can’t perform calculations (such as simple sums) using that number. Is there a way to retain the number status while displaying the plus sign? ---
**Author:** ![Surbey](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/4491bb/32.png) [@Surbey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Surbey)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 2005, 5:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/excel-question-displaying-a-plus-sign/332211/2 "2005-11-22T05:29:53Z")
I will notify my dad **TheSurb** He’s an Excel Master ---
**Author:** ![don\_t\_ask](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e68b1a/32.png) [@don\_t\_ask](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/don_t_ask)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 2005, 5:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/excel-question-displaying-a-plus-sign/332211/3 "2005-11-22T05:34:01Z")
You can choose Format Cells/Custom choose say #,###.## and change the to a +. Works for me in 97. Can perform mathematical operations with it. ---
**Author:** ![Dunderman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ecb155/32.png) [@Dunderman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dunderman)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 2005, 5:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/excel-question-displaying-a-plus-sign/332211/4 "2005-11-22T05:46:33Z")
> [@don't ask](#): > > You can choose Format Cells/Custom choose say #,###.## and change the to a +. Works for me in 97. Can perform mathematical operations with it. But this means the plus is _always_ present, even when I enter a negative number. I need to be able to enter +1, -1 or 0 (including numbers other than 1, of course). ---
**Author:** ![Blake](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/a9a28c/32.png) [@Blake](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Blake)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 2005, 5:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/excel-question-displaying-a-plus-sign/332211/5 "2005-11-22T05:47:49Z")
> [@don't ask](#): > > You can choose Format Cells/Custom choose say #,###.## and change the to a +. Works for me in 97. Can perform mathematical operations with it. I use Office2000. Works perfectly there as well. Just one clarifier, the built-in custom functions always have a positive and negative verison. For example: #,##0;-#,##0 In these cases replace the first (positive) ‘' with a '+' and delete the second (negative) '’ altogether. ---
**Author:** ![Blake](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/a9a28c/32.png) [@Blake](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Blake)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 2005, 5:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/excel-question-displaying-a-plus-sign/332211/6 "2005-11-22T05:51:40Z")
> [@don't ask](#): > > You can choose Format Cells/Custom choose say #,###.## and change the to a +. Works for me in 97. Can perform mathematical operations with it. I use Office2000. Works perfectly there as well. Just one clarifier, the built-in custom functions always have a positive and negative verison. For example: #,##0;-#,##0 In these cases replace the first (positive) ‘' with a '+' and delete the second (negative) '’ altogether. > [@Proceguy](#): > > But this means the plus is always present, even when I enter a negative number. I need to be able to enter +1, -1 or 0 (including numbers other than 1, of course). Caught this on preview. This is what I was referring to above. Just delete the second ‘$’ sign. That way positive numbers are prefaced with a "+’ and negative numbers are treated normally, meaning they will be prefaced with a ‘-’ . Your custom format should look like this: +#,##0;-#,##0 ---
**Author:** ![gouda](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/c77e96/32.png) [@gouda](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gouda)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 2005, 6:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/excel-question-displaying-a-plus-sign/332211/7 "2005-11-22T06:03:35Z")
Put an apostrophe (’) before the function, as in '+2. When you move on to the next cell, the apostrophe will disappear, leaving behind +2. ---
**Author:** ![Blake](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/a9a28c/32.png) [@Blake](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Blake)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 2005, 6:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/excel-question-displaying-a-plus-sign/332211/8 "2005-11-22T06:08:31Z")
> [@gouda](#): > > Put an apostrophe (’) before the function, as in '+2. When you move on to the next cell, the apostrophe will disappear, leaving behind +2. IIRC the apostrophe makes the cell contents into a ‘value’, essentially converting it to text. That then makes it impossible to use formulae or perform calculations with the cells. ---
**Author:** ![gouda](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/c77e96/32.png) [@gouda](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gouda)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 2005, 6:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/excel-question-displaying-a-plus-sign/332211/9 "2005-11-22T06:51:15Z")
> [@Blake](#): > > IIRC the apostrophe makes the cell contents into a ‘value’, essentially converting it to text. That then makes it impossible to use formulae or perform calculations with the cells. :smack: I didn’t read the OP carefully enough. Saw the title, then skipped straight to the last line. ---
**Author:** ![Dunderman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ecb155/32.png) [@Dunderman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dunderman)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 2005, 8:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/excel-question-displaying-a-plus-sign/332211/10 "2005-11-22T08:59:40Z")
Works like a charm, **Blake**. Thanks a bunch.