# Microsoft Office Application Help - Excel Help forum > Excel Formulas & Functions >  > [SOLVED] Negative Numbers in Red Brackets, Positive Numbers in Accounting Format

## STUARTXL

Hi All,

Please could someone advise how to format an entire spreadsheet or batch of cells so that:
 - None negative items are shown in accounting format i.e. anything above zero shows 2 decimal places and (where applicable) has commas to separate numbers above thousands, millions etc. e.g. 1,000.00, 1,000,000.00
 - Zeros must be shown as a '-' rather than '0' or '0.00'
 - Negative numbers are shown with two decimal places but also in red font and encapsulated by brackets

The only workaround I have found so far is to custom format the spreadsheet/range of cells as such - "#,##0.00;[Red](#,##0.00)" and then select all positive cells and change them back to accounting mode.  This isn't a practical solution for me and I was looking for an easier one.  Thanks in advance.

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## samba_ravi

_(* #,##0_);[Red]_(* (#,##0);_(* "-"_);_(@_)

Try the above in Format Cells under custom format

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