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Table of Contents
Method 1 of 3:
Subtracting Cell Values
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Images 1 of How to Subtract in Excel Open Excel. It's a green app with a white "X" on it.- If you would rather use a pre-existing Excel document, instead double-click the Excel document in question.
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Images 2 of How to Subtract in Excel Click Blank workbook (PC) or Excel Workbook (Mac). It's in the top-left side of the "Template" window. -
Images 3 of How to Subtract in Excel Enter your data if necessary. To do so, click a cell, type in a number, and press ↵ Enter or ⏎ Return. -
Images 4 of How to Subtract in Excel Click an empty cell. This will select the cell. -
Images 5 of How to Subtract in Excel Type "=" into the cell. Exclude the quotation marks. You'll always type an "equals" sign prior to inserting a formula in Excel. -
Images 6 of How to Subtract in Excel Type in a cell's name. This should be a cell with data from which you wish to subtract other cells' value(s).- For example, you would type "C1" to select the number in cell C1.
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Images 7 of How to Subtract in Excel Type - into the cell. You'll see it appear after the number you entered. -
Images 8 of How to Subtract in Excel Type in another cell's name. This should be a cell whose value you wish to subtract from the first cell's name.- You can repeat this process with multiple cells (e.g., "C1-A1-B2").
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Images 9 of How to Subtract in Excel Press ↵ Enter or ⏎ Return. Doing so will calculate the formula entered in the cell and replace it with the solution.- You can click on the cell to view the original formula in the text bar directly above the row of letters.
Method 2 of 3:
Subtracting Within a Cell
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Images 10 of How to Subtract in Excel Open Excel. It's a green app with a white "X" on it. -
Images 11 of How to Subtract in Excel Click Blank workbook (PC) or Excel Workbook (Mac). It's in the top-left side of the "Template" window. -
Images 12 of How to Subtract in Excel Click a cell. Unless you plan on creating data using this workbook, the cell you select is not important. -
Images 13 of How to Subtract in Excel Type "=" into the cell. Exclude the quotation marks. This will set the cell up for a formula. -
Images 14 of How to Subtract in Excel Type in a number from which you wish to subtract. It will appear in your selected cell to the right of the "equals" sign.- For your budget, for example, you might type your month's income into this cell.
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Images 15 of How to Subtract in Excel Type - into the cell. You'll see it appear after the number you entered.- If you decide to subtract multiple numbers (e.g., X-Y-Z), you'll repeat this step after each subsequent number excluding the last one.
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Images 16 of How to Subtract in Excel Type in a number you wish to subtract from the first number.- If you're calculating budget, you might type an expense into this cell.
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Images 17 of How to Subtract in Excel Press ↵ Enter or ⏎ Return. Doing so will calculate the formula entered in the cell and replace it with the solution.- You can click on the cell to view the original formula in the text bar directly above the row of letters.
Method 3 of 3:
Subtracting a Column
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Images 18 of How to Subtract in Excel Open Excel. It's a green app with a white "X" on it.- If you would rather use a pre-existing Excel document, instead double-click the Excel document in question.
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Images 19 of How to Subtract in Excel Click Blank workbook (PC) or Excel Workbook (Mac). It's in the top-left side of the "Template" window. -
Images 20 of How to Subtract in Excel Click a blank cell. Doing so will select it. -
Images 21 of How to Subtract in Excel Enter your main number. This is the number from which the rest of the column will be selected.- For example, you might type in your yearly salary here.
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Images 22 of How to Subtract in Excel Enter any subtractions in the cells below. To do so, you'll type in a negative version of the number you wish to subtract (e.g., if you wish to subtract 300, type in "-300").- You'll type in one subtraction per cell.
- Make sure each of the numbers you enter are in the same column as the main number.
- For the salary example, you'd likely type "-" followed by an expense for each box.
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Images 23 of How to Subtract in Excel Click a blank cell. This time, the cell doesn't need to be in the same column as the main number. -
Images 24 of How to Subtract in Excel Type "=" into the cell. Exclude the quotation marks. Doing so will set up the cell for a formula. -
Images 25 of How to Subtract in Excel Type SUM into the cell. The "SUM" command adds items together.- There isn't an official "subtract" command, which is why you enter numbers in the negative format above.
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Images 26 of How to Subtract in Excel Type (CellName:CellName) in after SUM. This command adds all cells in a column from the first cell number value through the last cell number value.- For example, if the K1 cell is your main number and the last cell in the column with data in it is K10, you'd type "(K1:K10)".
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Images 27 of How to Subtract in Excel Press ↵ Enter or ⏎ Return. Doing so will run the formula in your selected cell, thereby replacing the formula with the final total.
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