Creating a Plus/Minus Button

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

    For Each cell In Selection
        If Application.IsNumber(cell) Then
            cell.Value = cell.Value * -1
        End If
    Next cell
End Sub

Note that the macro simply steps through whatever range of cells you selected when the macro started. Each cell is checked to see if it contains a number. If it does, then the value of that number is multiplied by -1. The result is a switch in sign for the number.

You can assign this macro to a shortcut key or to a toolbar button to make it easy to use at any time.