You can use the following formulas to convert negative numbers to zero in Google Sheets:
Formula 1: Convert Existing Negative Numbers to Zero
=IF(A20, 0, A2)
For this particular formula, if the value in cell A2 is negative then it is converted to a zero. Otherwise, it is left alone.
Formula 2: Convert Negative Numbers to Zero in Formula
=MAX(0, B2-C2)
For this particular formula, if the result of the formula B2 – C2 is negative then the formula simply returns a zero. Otherwise, the formula returns the result of the subtraction.
The following examples shows how to use each formula in practice.
Example 1: Convert Existing Negative Numbers to Zero
Suppose we have the following dataset in Google Sheets:
We can use the following formula to convert each negative number in column A to a zero:
=IF(A20, 0, A2)
We can type this formula into cell B2 and simply click and drag the formula down to each remaining cell in column B:
Notice that all negative numbers have been converted to zero.
Example 2: Convert Negative Numbers to Zero in Formula
Suppose we have the following dataset in Google Sheets:
We can use the following formula to subtract the values in column C from the values in column B and return a zero if the result of the subtraction is negative:
=MAX(0, B2-C2)
We can type this formula into cell D2 and simply click and drag the formula down to each remaining cell in column D:
Notice that in each case where the formula would have produced a negative number, a zero is returned instead.
Additional Resources
The following tutorials explain how to perform other common operations in Google Sheets:
How to Sum Only Positive Numbers in Google Sheets
How to Use SUMIF Contains in Google Sheets
How to Use SUMIF with OR in Google Sheets