Find & Replace

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

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


"NH" <[email protected]> wrote in message news:4h_Nf.18$Cc3.17@trnddc08...
> 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
>
>
>
>

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.

NH wrote:
>
> 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
>
> "NH" <[email protected]> wrote in message news:4h_Nf.18$Cc3.17@trnddc08...
> > 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
> >
> >
> >
> >

--

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 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.

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

>
> NH wrote:
>>
>> 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
>>
>> "NH" <[email protected]> wrote in message
>> news:4h_Nf.18$Cc3.17@trnddc08...
>> > 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
>> >
>> >
>> >
>> >
>
> --
>
> Dave Peterson

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

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


"Pete_UK" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
> 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
>

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


"NH" <[email protected]> wrote in message news:4h_Nf.18$Cc3.17@trnddc08...
> 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
>
>
>
>