How do I use Custom Number Formats to find Absolute Value in Google Sheets?

Question

I am making a budget sheet, and I am importing expenses which are written as negative numbers. I want to write a custom number format in Google Sheets which will automatically change every negative number to positive, aka which will convert it to its absolute value.

I prefer to do this with a Custom Number Format, instead of creating an additional column with rules such as =PRODUCT(A1, -1). I could do that part no problem, but I'd prefer to have the numbers automatically change to absolute value in the column where I import the values. Any ideas?

Answer 1

Try this custom format

0;0;

or

0;0;0

first one is for positive numbers, second one for négative and third for 0