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: Disappearing Status Bar.
Catherine uses keystrokes where she can (instead of the mouse) and she seems to periodically hit a key combination which makes the status bar disappear. She has yet to discover what the keystroke combination is or how to get the status bar back without shutting Excel down and restarting.
Getting the status bar back without restarting Excel is easy. All you need to do is follow these steps:
Figure 1. The View tab of the Options dialog box.
The keystroke that is resulting in the status bar being turned off is a bit more problematic. There are a few things to check here. First, you should check to see if there are any macros that are in your system that, while running, turn off the status bar. It is possible that the macros may have shortcut keys associated with them, and you are triggering the macro without even knowing it.
If there are no macros, then it is most possible that you are pressing, in sequence, Alt+V, S. This This opens the View menu and toggles the check mark for the status bar. It is also possible that you are pressing Alt+V, U, which puts Excel into full-screen mode. This means that the worksheet takes up the maximum possible space on the screen. In this mode the status bar is not displayed. You can get out of this viewing mode by simply pressing Esc at any time.
ExcelTips is your source for cost-effective Microsoft Excel training. This tip (9143) 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: Disappearing Status Bar.
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2017-01-16 11:15:35
Naomi
MS Excel 2013. My status bar was not showing. The Alt+f11, Ctrl+G Application.DisplayStatusBar = True
didn't work.
WHat did work was changing the View to Page Break Preview and then back to Normal.
2015-05-02 06:24:25
Michael (Micky) Avidan
@jimwohlfarth,
If you'll bother to read the WHOLE tip above you'll see a paragraph that states (and I quote:)
"...This tip (9143) 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:..." (end of quote)
Michael (Micky) Avidan
“Microsoft® Answers" - Wiki author & Forums Moderator
“Microsoft®” MVP – Excel (2009-2015)
ISRAEL
2015-05-01 12:05:56
jimwohlfarth
my version of excel does not have that view. The view above appears to be from a much older version of excel. I'm using MS Office Professional plus 2010. When I select Options there is no mention of "tools".
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.
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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: 
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