Please Note: This article is written for users of the following Microsoft Excel versions: 97, 2000, 2002, and 2003. If you are using a later version (Excel 2007 or later), this tip may not work for you. For a version of this tip written specifically for later versions of Excel, click here: Dealing with Long Formulas.
Written by Allen Wyatt (last updated December 29, 2018)
This tip applies to Excel 97, 2000, 2002, and 2003
Anyone who has been using Excel for any length of time knows that some formulas can get quite long. Excel handles them—as long as they are constructed correctly—but they can be a bear for humans to understand. Even after you develop your own formulas, you may have trouble understanding them weeks or months later.
One way to make formulas a bit easier to understand is to use Alt+Enter in the middle of the formula to "format" how it appears on the screen. Consider, for instance, the following long formula:
=+IF($A2=0,0,IF($B2<4264,0,IF(AND($B2>=4264,$B2<=4895), (-22.31*$C2/365),IF(AND($B2>=4895,$B2<=32760),($B2*0.093- 476.89)*$C2/365,IF($B2>32760,($B2*0.128-1623.49)*$C2/365)))))
This formula could also be written in the following manner, with Alt+Enter being pressed at the end of each line in the formula:
=+IF($A1=0,0, IF($B1<4264,0, IF(AND($B1>=4264,$B1<=4895),(-22.31*$C1/365), IF(AND($B1>=4895,$B1<=32760),($B1*0.093-476.89)*$C1/365, IF($B1>32760,($B1*0.128-1623.49)*$C1/365)))))
Now, the broken-up formula appears on five lines, even though it all appears in a single cell. The broken-up formula works just as if it were all on one line.
In addition, if you copy the complete broken-up formula from the Formula bar and paste it into a worksheet, each line in the formula is pasted into a different cell, making it easy to test each part. This is much quicker than copying and pasting parts of the original formula.
ExcelTips is your source for cost-effective Microsoft Excel training. This tip (3043) applies to Microsoft Excel 97, 2000, 2002, and 2003. You can find a version of this tip for the ribbon interface of Excel (Excel 2007 and later) here: Dealing with Long Formulas.
Excel Smarts for Beginners! Featuring the friendly and trusted For Dummies style, this popular guide shows beginners how to get up and running with Excel while also helping more experienced users get comfortable with the newest features. Check out Excel 2019 For Dummies today!
Don't want people using your workbook to be able to use AutoFill? You can add two quick macros that disable and enable ...
Discover MoreThere are a few editing tricks you can apply in Excel the same as you do in Word. Selecting a word from the text in a ...
Discover MoreDo you need to both transpose and link information you are pasting in a worksheet? It isn't as impossible to do as it ...
Discover MoreFREE SERVICE: Get tips like this every week in ExcelTips, a free productivity newsletter. Enter your address and click "Subscribe."
2021-08-04 23:01:14
Gareth Hayter
FormulaSpy (from FormulaDesk) is another Excel add-in that also helps with these scenarios https://www.formuladesk.com/formulaspy/
2021-03-04 19:49:04
Simon B
This is another online tool for formatting Excel formulas:
https://www.formulaboost.com/parse
What's good about this one is that the formatted formulas are still valid and can be pasted back into Excel.
2020-06-25 12:09:47
Christie Bellah
This is perfect, thank you! For one column on the report I'm doing today I need so many IFs that I'd started to wonder if I should create some extra columns to break it up some - just to make the formulas more readable. I like your solution a lot better.
2020-05-13 06:15:28
Mat
Or maybe something like this:
excelformulabeautifier.com
2020-02-06 09:24:35
André Fernandes
Great!
Got a version of Excel that uses the menu interface (Excel 97, Excel 2000, Excel 2002, or Excel 2003)? This site is for you! If you use a later version of Excel, visit our ExcelTips site focusing on the ribbon interface.
FREE SERVICE: Get tips like this every week in ExcelTips, a free productivity newsletter. Enter your address and click "Subscribe."
Copyright © 2025 Sharon Parq Associates, Inc.
Please Note:
This article is written for users of the following Microsoft Excel versions: 97, 2000, 2002, and 2003. If you are using a later version (Excel 2007 or later), this tip may not work for you. For a version of this tip written specifically for later versions of Excel, click here:
Comments