Written by Allen Wyatt (last updated January 19, 2019)
This tip applies to Excel 97, 2000, 2002, and 2003
The status bar is the area at the bottom of the Excel window which indicates information about the current spreadsheet. If you need more room to view a spreadsheet, or you don't need the information provided by the status bar, you can turn it off. To control display of the status bar, follow these steps:

Figure 1. The View tab of the Options dialog box.
ExcelTips is your source for cost-effective Microsoft Excel training. This tip (2643) applies to Microsoft Excel 97, 2000, 2002, and 2003.
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