Viewing Formulas versus Results

Summary: Instructing Excel to display the formulas used instead of the results. (This tip works with Microsoft Excel 97, Excel 2000, Excel 2002, and Excel 2003.)

Formulas are at the heart of Excel. In fact, most workbooks contain dozens (if not hundreds) of formulas. Normally, Excel displays the results of your formulas on a worksheet. If a cell contains a formula, you can view the formula by selecting the cell and looking at the Formula Bar. You can also instruct Excel to display the formulas for all cells instead of the results of those formulas. This is done by following these steps:

Choose Options from the Tools menu. Excel displays the Options dialog box.
Make sure the View tab is selected. (Click here to see a related figure.)
Make sure the Formulas check box is selected.
Click on OK.

If you prefer, you can use the keyboard shortcut of Ctrl+` to toggle between the formulas and their results. (The ` key is the one just above the Tab key and to the left of the 1 key.)

ExcelTips is your source for cost-effective Microsoft Excel training. This tip (2641) applies to Microsoft Excel versions: 97 | 2000 | 2002 | 2003

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Viewing Formulas versus Results