Please Note: This article is written for users of the following Microsoft Excel versions: 2007, 2010, 2013, 2016, 2019, 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: Creating a Plus/Minus Button.

Creating a Plus/Minus Button

Written by Allen Wyatt (last updated December 10, 2024)
This tip applies to Excel 2007, 2010, 2013, 2016, 2019, and 2021


2

On some calculators there is a little button that can come in very handy: the plus/minus button. This button, when pressed, will switch whatever value is on the display between its positive and negative values. For instance, if the display shows the number 57, then pressing the button will change the display to -57. Pressing it again will switch the value back to 57.

If you would like a "button" that does this in Excel, you'll quickly find that there is none built into the program. You can quickly create one, however, by using a macro:

Sub PlusMinus()
    Dim cell As Range

    On Error Resume Next 'copes with cells that are not numeric
        For Each cell In Selection
            If Not cell.HasFormula Then cell.Value = -cell.Value
    Next cell
End Sub

Note that the macro simply steps through whatever range of cells you selected when the macro started. Each cell is tested to make sure it contains a numeric value. When would a cell not contain a number? The most critical time is when it contains a formula, you don't want to mess those up. Another instance is when the cell contains a date. You don't want to change those dates to minus values. Cells that contain either a formula, a date, or a label will generate an error since "cell.Value" isn't a numeric value. If the cell truly contains a number, then the result is a switch in sign for the number.

You can assign this macro to a shortcut key or add it to the Quick Access Toolbar to make it easy to use at any time.

Note:

If you would like to know how to use the macros described on this page (or on any other page on the ExcelTips sites), I've prepared a special page that includes helpful information. Click here to open that special page in a new browser tab.

ExcelTips is your source for cost-effective Microsoft Excel training. This tip (9271) applies to Microsoft Excel 2007, 2010, 2013, 2016, 2019, and 2021. You can find a version of this tip for the older menu interface of Excel here: Creating a Plus/Minus Button.

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. ...

MORE FROM ALLEN

Dragging and Dropping Pictures in a Document

Do you like to add pictures to your document just by dragging and dropping? What are you to do if it appears the ...

Discover More

Putting a Chart Legend On Its Own Page

Displaying information using charts in Excel is easy and there are a variety of chart styles to choose from. Integrated ...

Discover More

Quickly Entering Dates and Times

Excel provides keyboard shortcuts for a variety of purposes. This tip examines two such shortcuts, designed to allow ...

Discover More

Professional Development Guidance! Four world-class developers offer start-to-finish guidance for building powerful, robust, and secure applications with Excel. The authors show how to consistently make the right design decisions and make the most of Excel's powerful features. Check out Professional Excel Development today!

More ExcelTips (ribbon)

E-mailing PDF Reports Results in Consistent Crash

It is possible to create macros that send out reports, via e-mail, from within Excel. Frank did this and ran into ...

Discover More

Adding a Calendar to a Worksheet

Using a specialized calendar control is a great way to let users add dates to a worksheet. Unfortuantely, Microsoft ...

Discover More

Finding the Last-Used Cell in a Macro

Ever wonder what the macro-oriented equivalent of pressing Ctrl+End is? Here's the code and some caveats on using it.

Discover More
Subscribe

FREE SERVICE: Get tips like this every week in ExcelTips, a free productivity newsletter. Enter your address and click "Subscribe."

View most recent newsletter.

Comments

If you would like to add an image to your comment (not an avatar, but an image to help in making the point of your comment), include the characters [{fig}] (all 7 characters, in the sequence shown) in your comment text. You’ll be prompted to upload your image when you submit the comment. Maximum image size is 6Mpixels. Images larger than 600px wide or 1000px tall will be reduced. Up to three images may be included in a comment. All images are subject to review. Commenting privileges may be curtailed if inappropriate images are posted.

What is 7 + 9?

2021-12-05 10:25:50

J. Woolley

The subject of this Tip is very similar to a recent Tip titled Negating a Cell Using a Macro. That Tip attracted a plethora of Comments.
See https://excelribbon.tips.net/T010127_Negating_a_Cell_Using_a_Macro.html

My Excel Toolbox includes the Negate macro to negate all numeric constants in a Selection (ignoring other cells). The Negate macro supports Undo.
See https://sites.google.com/view/MyExcelToolbox/


2021-12-04 19:48:37

Fernando Ramos

Hi Allen.
Great code.
A small observation: If you apply this code to empty cells it will change it to a cell with a zero.
This small change should fix that.

Sub PlusMinus()
Dim cell As Range

On Error Resume Next 'copes with cells that are not numeric
For Each cell In Selection
If Not cell.HasFormula and cell.Value <> 0 Then cell.Value = -cell.Value
Next cell
End Sub

Greetings from Mexico


This Site

Got a version of Excel that uses the ribbon interface (Excel 2007 or later)? This site is for you! If you use an earlier version of Excel, visit our ExcelTips site focusing on the menu interface.

Newest Tips
Subscribe

FREE SERVICE: Get tips like this every week in ExcelTips, a free productivity newsletter. Enter your address and click "Subscribe."

(Your e-mail address is not shared with anyone, ever.)

View the most recent newsletter.