I'm not sure what you mean. The cell has a summation formula in it. It is
not blank. Perhaps you mean that, if it evaluates to zero, then the total
won't show. Even so, it seems like Dribler2 has a solution for me.

Thanks everyone and happy holidays!
Dean


"Gord Dibben" <gorddibbATshawDOTca wrote in message
...
Dean

Custom Formats are for numeric cells only.

Since you have a blank cell, your Total = will not show in the cell.


Gord Dibben MS Excel MVP

On Fri, 22 Dec 2006 20:20:02 -0800, "Dean"
wrote:

Little nits: I notice that the value is right aligned. Is there a way to
make it centered or left aligned?

So, in addition to not having the problem I didn't like, what you gave me
also does the exact same thing with so many fewer characters? If so, like
WOW! If not, please tell me what feature it doesn't have. Also, can you
briefly tell me how the format can be smart enough (or dumb enough) to
know
to suppress the text I put in front of it. It really seems weird.

Thanks!
Dean

"dribler2" wrote in message
...
using your custom format, assuming non-negative total

"Total =" _(* #,##0_)

happy holidays hohoho
driller

"Dean" wrote:

Thanks, guys, I just figured it out. What I had was fine, but I was
looking at a cell whose value was zero. Apparently, if the cell's
value
is
zero, the "totals =" is suppressed. I'm not sure why. It's as if the
custom format knows to suppress the text that I put in front of it,
which
does seem odd. Can someone explain how I could also have that text
print
out
even if the value is zero?

Here's the actual format I tried it with:

"Total =" _(* #,##0_);_(* (#,##0);_(* "-"??_);_(@_)

Please don't waste your time explaining the details of that custom
format.
I don't need to know much more than that my client likes it!

Thanks!
Dean

"Gord Dibben" <gorddibbATshawDOTca wrote in message
...
Dean

Put the space between = and " like "Total = "0


Gord Dibben MS Excel MVP

On Fri, 22 Dec 2006 10:49:23 -0800, "Dean"

wrote:

I have a bunch of custom formats that I use that were created by
others.
They have many symbols in them hyphens, #, etc, etc.

I also have learned how to have a number displayed with say "total ="
in
front of it, but I only know how to do that for simple formats, such
as
an
integer. I tried modifying one of those custom formats with "total
="
and
a
spacebar in front of them, similar to how I use "total =" 0, when it
is
an
integer. But it did not work. So, the question is, if I want to
modify
an
existing custom format but just want to put some text in front of it,
how
do
I do that?

Thanks!
Dean