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It's easy using Excel's built-in number formats to display negative values in red. What isn't so obvious is how to display negative percentages in red. This is because Excel doesn't provide a built-in format that addresses this situation.
There are two distinct ways you can display negative percentages in red. One way is to use a custom number format. Precise details on how you put together custom formats has been covered in other issues of ExcelTips, so here is the quick way you can get the desired results:

Figure 1. The Number tab of the Format Cells dialog box.
The format you specify in step 5 displays positive percentages with two decimal places and displays negative percentages in red with two decimal places. (You can modify the number of decimal places in the format, if necessary.)
The other way that you can display negative percentages in red is to use conditional formatting by following these steps:

Figure 2. The Conditional Formatting dialog box.

Figure 3. The Font tab of the Format Cells dialog box.
ExcelTips is your source for cost-effective Microsoft Excel training. This tip (2786) applies to Microsoft Excel versions: 97 2000 2002 2003
You can find a version of this tip for the ribbon interface of Excel (Excel 2007 and later) here: Displaying Negative Percentages in Red.
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Change Formatting Based On Your Data! Conditional formatting provides a way for you to adjust the appearance of your data based on the data itself. Discover how to put this amazingly powerful feature to work for you, today. This comprehensive volume is available in two editions. Check out Excel Conditional Formatting today!