Look Who it Was Random video

Excel - Convert Positive Data to Negative with Paste Special Multiply - Episode 355

557 views · Published 12 November 2009 · 1:47 · Indexed 20 September 2026

Channel: MrExcel.com · 2009 · Education

Watch on YouTube

Microsoft Excel Tutorial - Convert Positive Data to Negative with Paste Special Multiply.

Welcome back to another episode of the MrExcel podcast. In today's video, we'll be discussing a common issue that many Excel users face - column negation. Have you ever received data from your company system that needs to be completely negative, but it's sent over as positive? Well, fear not, because I have a simple solution for you.

During one of my recent power Excel seminars, a participant asked if there was a way to quickly change an entire column to be negative without creating a new temporary column and using Paste Special Values. And the answer is yes! Let me show you how.

First, go to a blank cell that is not being used and enter the number -1. Then, select the -1 and copy it to your clipboard using Edit, Copy or Ctrl+C. Next, select the entire column of data that needs to be negated and use Edit, Paste, Special. From the Operation tab, choose Multiply. This will multiply all the selected cells by the number on your clipboard, which in this case is -1. To preserve your formatting, make sure to select Values and click OK. And just like that, all the numbers in the column will be changed to negative.

And there you have it, a quick and easy way to negate a column in Excel using Paste Special Multiply. I hope this tip will save you time and frustration in your future data analysis tasks. Thanks for tuning in, and don't forget to subscribe to our channel for more helpful Excel tips and tricks. See you next time for another podcast from MrExcel!

Buy Bill Jelen's latest Excel book: https://www.mrexcel.com/products/latest/

You can help my channel by clicking Like or commenting below: https://www.mrexcel.com/like-mrexcel-on-youtube/


Table of Contents:
(00:00) Introduction
(00:18) Converting positive data to negative
(00:30) Quick solution using Paste Special
(00:46) Copying -1 to clipboard
(01:00) Using Multiply operation
(01:10) Maintaining formatting
(01:21) Conclusion
(01:31) Clicking Like really helps the algorithm

#excel #microsoft #microsoftexcel #exceltutorial #exceltips #exceltricks #excelmvp #freeclass #freecourse #freeclasses #excelclasses #microsoftmvp #walkthrough #evergreen #spreadsheetskills #analytics #analysis #dataanalysis #dataanalytics #mrexcel #spreadsheets #spreadsheet #excelhelp #accounting #tutorial


This video answers these common search terms:
Changing positive to negative in Excel
Converting data from positive to negative in Excel
Converting positive numbers to negative in Excel
Excel Paste Special Multiply
Excel tips for changing number signs
How to change positive values to negative in Excel
MrExcel podcast on converting positive values to negative
Multiplying cells by -1 in Excel
Paste Special Values in Excel
Quick way to make a column negative in Excel
Simple solution for making a column negative in Excel
Using Paste Special to multiply in Excel


Join the MrExcel Message Board discussion about this video at https://www.mrexcel.com/board/threads/1152745/

Your company system produces a data export where all of the numbers in a column appear as negative instead of positive. Episode 355 will show you a trick with Paste Special Multiply to correct this problem.

This blog is the video podcast companion to the book, Learn Excel from MrExcel. Download a new two minute video every workday to learn one of the 277 tips from the book!

More from this channel