Hi Jeff,
I think you may have seen Ctrl+` and tried Ctrl+' instead.
because it sounds like what you see wouldn't be much different than
simply selecting a cell and looking at the formula bar, which would
not change the value of a cell like Ctrl+' would.
Toggle like a toggle switch, will change the value from on to off or
from off to on. Some toolbar buttons toggle like the Bold key.
CTRL+SHIFT+" (quotation mark)
Copy the value from the cell above the active cell into the cell or the formula bar
CTRL+` (accent grave /not a quotation mark)
Alternate between displaying cell values and displaying cell formulas
Same us turning Formula view on or off with Tools, options, View, ...
CTRL+' (apostrophe / single quote)
Copy a formula from the cell above the active cell into the cell or the formula bar
For list of shortcut keys in Excel that you can use your browser's FIND
key on
http://www.mvps.org/dmcritchie/excel/shortx2k.htm
For some alternatives to display formula or formatting used in another cell
for use while debugging worksheet formulas or for documentation see
GetFormula or GetFormulaD in
http://www.mvps.org/dmcritchie/excel/formula.htm
The advantage of using a User Defined Function is that you can see
the formula used at the same time as the actual spreadsheet so you know
the formula shown is up to date.
HTH,
David McRitchie, Microsoft MVP - Excel [site changed Nov. 2001]
My Excel Pages:
http://www.mvps.org/dmcritchie/excel/excel.htm
Search Page:
http://www.mvps.org/dmcritchie/excel/search.htm