Formula shown as a formula rather than it's result

T

Tosca

Hi everyone

I have Excel 2003 and a large spreadsheet with many formulae. I had to edit
one of them and, when I did, it displayed the formula in the cell, rather
than the result. I made sure that there were no spaces in the formula, nor
was there a leading apostrophe. None of the other formulae were displayed
in this way.

In an effort to find the cause, I closed the workbook and started a new one.
I typed something into cell A2 then typed the formula <=A2> into D4. It
returned the correct result in D4. I tried the similar experiment with the
big workbook that's causing problems but it didn't calculate the value of A2
and return it to D4. It merely displayed <=A2> in D4. The questions I have
are:

Is the problem related to the fact that there are several formulae in the
workbook or is there a setting that's been applied (somehow) which is
causing newly entered formulae to be displayed, rather than evaluated?

It's bizarre behaviour, and I want it to stop!

Thanks for your time.
 
R

RagDyeR

Since you say that it is only a single formula (cell) that's displaying this
problem, try this:

Select the problem cell, then:

<Ctrl> <Shift> <~>
Then <F2>
Then
<Enter>

What you did was format the cell to General (keyboard shortcut), and then
re-entered it.
--

HTH,

RD
==============================================
Please keep all correspondence within the Group, so all may benefit!
==============================================


Hi everyone

I have Excel 2003 and a large spreadsheet with many formulae. I had to edit
one of them and, when I did, it displayed the formula in the cell, rather
than the result. I made sure that there were no spaces in the formula, nor
was there a leading apostrophe. None of the other formulae were displayed
in this way.

In an effort to find the cause, I closed the workbook and started a new one.
I typed something into cell A2 then typed the formula <=A2> into D4. It
returned the correct result in D4. I tried the similar experiment with the
big workbook that's causing problems but it didn't calculate the value of A2
and return it to D4. It merely displayed <=A2> in D4. The questions I have
are:

Is the problem related to the fact that there are several formulae in the
workbook or is there a setting that's been applied (somehow) which is
causing newly entered formulae to be displayed, rather than evaluated?

It's bizarre behaviour, and I want it to stop!

Thanks for your time.
 
T

Tosca

Perfect!

However - I checked the format of the cell that caused the problem and it
was <Text>. I did as you suggested and, whilst it displays the result
correctly now, the format is still <Text>. What exactly does the series of
keystrokes do?

Thanks
 
S

Sam

Try clicking Format/Cells and changing the formatting [D4] to General. It
sounds like D4 is formatted as text.
 
R

RagDyeR

I don't believe that you're looking at the same cell when you say that the
cell is *still* Text.
Maybe the cell beneath it, after you hit <Enter>?

As I originally said,
<Ctrl> <Shift> <~>
is a keyboard shortcut to format the cell(s) to "General".
That formatting alone, however, will *not* produce a working formula.

Try it the long way:

Format a cell to Text.
Enter a formula.
You'll see the text displayed *only*.
Then,
<Format> <Cells> <Number> tab,
Click on General, then <OK>.

You'll *still* see only the text of the formula.
Go back and re-check the current format of the cell, and you'll see it now
shows as General.

Now, with the cell selected, click anywhere in the formula bar, and hit
<Enter>.
OR
Double click in the cell (if you have "Edit In Cell" enabled), and hit
<Enter>.

You've re-entered (registered) the formula, and it will now display the
results of the calculation.

<F2> is a keyboard shortcut to enter the "Edit" mode of a selected cell.

So ... all I posted was keyboard shortcuts to:
Change format to General,
Enter Edit mode,
Register the change.
--

HTH,

RD
==============================================
Please keep all correspondence within the Group, so all may benefit!
==============================================


Perfect!

However - I checked the format of the cell that caused the problem and it
was <Text>. I did as you suggested and, whilst it displays the result
correctly now, the format is still <Text>. What exactly does the series of
keystrokes do?

Thanks
 
C

Charyn

Thank you for the explanation of the shortcuts! It not only made it easier
to understand what you were suggesting as a fix, but better explained what
the problem was as well!!

Best,
Charyn
 
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