How to show negative or minus numbers in different colours in MicrosoftExcel 2007

There may be instances where you would like to show a value in Microsoft Exel in a different colour when it becomes a negative or minus number. Obviously, you can do this manually by changing the font colour but the instructions below provide a method of instructing Excel 2007 to do it dynamically.

For this example i will turn the value red when it becomes a negative.

1. Highlight a cell with a value that is, or is likely to become a negative.
2. On the 'Home' tab under 'Styles' select 'Conditional Formatting'.
3. New rule.
4. Under 'Select a Rule Type' choose 'Format only cells that contain'.
5.Under 'Edit the rule description' choose 'Cell Value' - 'Less than' - 0.
6. Hit the format button below.
7. This will take you onto the font tab. Select the 'Color' drop down menu and select 'red' (or another colour of your choosing) .
8. Click OK and then Click OK again on the 'New Formatting Rule' window to take you back to your spreadsheet.

You will now see that if you change the value to a minus or negative number it will appear in red !.