Negitive numbers

PaddyMcPatrick 

Part of the problem in communicating your desire is that you're referring to it as a "formatting" problem, which is missing the main point. You don't just want (for example) to change the color, because that is just changing the format, a very VERY superficial matter.

You understandably want to avoid changing them all manually. When I have that happen--probably in the same situation that you're encountering here, importing data from a bank or credit card company--I use the solution I outline in the next paragraph. For what it's worth, I happen to be bothered more by the practice of having numbers appear as negatives. I didn't "spend negative $100 on that purchase; I spent $100!!" In other words, I'd rather deal with them in terms of their absolute values, and just know that debits are debits and credits are credits and deal with them accordingly when it comes to such things as calculating current balance.

My solution, which is what I'd recommend, is the temporary use of a "helper column" to convert the entire column of 3838 cells from positive numbers to negative numbers and then Copy and Paste Special (values only) all 3,838 numbers, now negated, back onto the original column. All you need to do to turn positive numbers into negative is multiple them by -1. (For that matter, the same multiplier will turn negative numbers into positives.)