Please Note: This article is written for users of the following Microsoft Excel versions: 2007, 2010, 2013, 2016, 2019, Excel in Microsoft 365, and 2021. If you are using an earlier version (Excel 2003 or earlier), this tip may not work for you. For a version of this tip written specifically for earlier versions of Excel, click here: Using Slashed Zeroes.

Using Slashed Zeroes

Written by Allen Wyatt (last updated July 29, 2023)
This tip applies to Excel 2007, 2010, 2013, 2016, 2019, Excel in Microsoft 365, and 2021


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For some printouts it may be beneficial to use a zero with a slash through it rather than the standard zero without a slash. There are several ways you can go about using the slashed zeroes. The first is to insert the Alt+0216 symbol, which is a capital O with a slash through it. There are two problems with this approach, however. First is that the symbol is just a bit wider than a regular zero, so it may look a bit funny. The second (and more serious) problem is that the symbol is not viewed as a number by Excel, so you can't use the values that include this symbol in your calculations.

A better solution is to simply change to a different font that uses a slashed zero in place of the regular zero. There are a number of such fonts that may already be installed on your system. Good candidates are the Terminal, WST_Engl, Fixedsys, Consolas, or Sydnie fonts. You'll need to experiment with whatever font you select; it may not be available in all the font sizes you expect.

If you cannot locate a suitable font on your own system, there are a number of free fonts available on the web; a simple search for "slashed zero fonts" should turn up some candidates. Here is one site you can start with, if desired:

https://www.wm8c.com/slashed_zero_fonts.htm

ExcelTips is your source for cost-effective Microsoft Excel training. This tip (11633) applies to Microsoft Excel 2007, 2010, 2013, 2016, 2019, Excel in Microsoft 365, and 2021. You can find a version of this tip for the older menu interface of Excel here: Using Slashed Zeroes.

Author Bio

Allen Wyatt

With more than 50 non-fiction books and numerous magazine articles to his credit, Allen Wyatt is an internationally recognized author. He is president of Sharon Parq Associates, a computer and publishing services company. ...

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What is five more than 3?

2023-07-29 15:33:31

J. Woolley

@Larry Fisackerly
If you try Control Panel > Fonts, you might find Fixedsys and Terminal, but you will probably prefer Consolas because it is True Type.
When I use Settings > Personalization > Fonts, Fixedsys and Terminal are not listed.
You might like Cascadia; it has a dotted-zero instead of a slashed-zero.
All these are fixed-width fonts, not variable-width like Calibri.


2023-07-29 09:13:09

Larry Fisackerly

I was excited to see your Excel tip today 07-29-2023 about using a font with a slashed zero. I have been using Consolas. NONE of the other fonts (Fixedsys, Sydnie, Terminal, and WST_Engl) are on my Win 22H2 system. I use Microsoft 365 Family with all updates as of 07-29-2023. I looked in both Word and Excel. No joy! What am I missing?


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