How to put parentheses around percentages for negative numbers

**theresa1111** · 05-13-2012, 09:26 PM

05-13-12

Hello. My name is Theresa and i am a new member. I really need help trying to figure out how to put parentheses around negative (percentage decreases in for examples sales from one year to another)percentages in cells but keep the positive percentages positive. I already have a formula in the cell which gives me the answer and i have formatted the answer to be a percentage with the decimal point increased once but i don't know how to put parentheses around the negative percentage while keeping the positive percentage without a parentheses.

**NickyC** · 05-14-2012, 02:25 AM

try using a custom number format such as:

0.0%;(0.0%)

**theresa1111** · 05-14-2012, 02:05 PM

05-14-12

I tried it but it did not work.I really don't know how to do it because i already have a formula in there that divides sales amounts from two different years to show the increase or decrease and then shows it as a percentage. After that i decreased the decimal by one but now i have to determine how to put parentheses around the negative percentages while leaving the positive percentages without parentheses.

**Pepe Le Mokko** · 05-14-2012, 02:47 PM

Originally Posted by theresa1111

05-14-12

I tried it but it did not work.

Select the cell or range to be formatted - Right click - format cells -Number Tab - Select Custom and in the textbox enter Nicky's suggestion - Click OK. It works perfectly