Select the cells that you want to format, then choose Format / Cells   and select "Custom" under
category, and paste the string #,##0.00_);;  into the edit box under Type:

HTH,
Bernie
MS Excel MVP

On Feb 26, 11:22 am, "Bernie Deitrick" <deitbe @ consumer dot org>
wrote:

Can I get a little more help on this.  Not sure how to enter the
suggestion in my worksheet.  Do I highlight the column and then have
to enter something??  Thanks

Highlight the cells where you want this to apply, then click on Format

list). You will see a panel under Type:, and it is here that you need
to enter the codes that Bernie has given you, i.e.:

#,##0.00_);;

This will show a blank if the cell content is zero or negative, but
positive numbers will be shown with 2 decimal places, or:

#,##0.00_);"0";"0"

will show 0 if the number is zero or negative. You might like to
change the "0" to "0.00" in this case if you want the number of
decimals to be the same throughout. As Bernie has put _) at the end of
the positive format, positive numbers are slightly indented to the
left, so you might like to change this or the -ve/zero formats to be
the same, i.e.:

#,##0.00_);"0.00"_);"0.00"_)

Hope this helps.

Pete