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.

Disappearing Status Bar

Written by Allen Wyatt (last updated July 9, 2022)
This tip applies to Excel 97, 2000, 2002, and 2003


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:

  1. Choose Options from the Tools menu. Excel displays the Options dialog box.
  2. Make sure the View tab is selected. (See Figure 1.)
  3. Figure 1. The View tab of the Options dialog box.

  4. Make sure the Status Bar check box is selected.
  5. Click on OK.

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.

Author Bio

Allen Wyatt

With more than 50 non-fiction books and numerous magazine articles to his credit, Allen Wyatt is an internationally recognized author. He is president of Sharon Parq Associates, a computer and publishing services company. ...

MORE FROM ALLEN

Line Numbering and Tables

Some types of documents (such as legal documents) may require that individual lines of text be numbered. If you use ...

Discover More

Understanding Object Anchors

Do you have documents that contain objects? Understanding how Word handles objects and the way they are anchored can make ...

Discover More

Finding Where the Current Document is Saved

It is possible to have multiple documents on your system, each with the same filename. If you work on those documents at ...

Discover More

Solve Real Business Problems Master business modeling and analysis techniques with Excel and transform data into bottom-line results. This hands-on, scenario-focused guide shows you how to use the latest Excel tools to integrate data from multiple tables. Check out Microsoft Excel 2013 Data Analysis and Business Modeling today!

More ExcelTips (menu)

Setting the Calculation Default

Excel can recalculate your worksheets either automatically or manually. The default is to calculate them automatically, ...

Discover More

A Ruler in Excel

A few workarounds for the fact that Excel does not have a built-in ruler.

Discover More

Canceling a Menu

Want to cancel whatever menu command you started to use in Excel? The normal method is by pressing Esc, but this is not ...

Discover More
Subscribe

FREE SERVICE: Get tips like this every week in ExcelTips, a free productivity newsletter. Enter your address and click "Subscribe."

View most recent newsletter.

Comments

If you would like to add an image to your comment (not an avatar, but an image to help in making the point of your comment), include the characters [{fig}] (all 7 characters, in the sequence shown) in your comment text. You’ll be prompted to upload your image when you submit the comment. Maximum image size is 6Mpixels. Images larger than 600px wide or 1000px tall will be reduced. Up to three images may be included in a comment. All images are subject to review. Commenting privileges may be curtailed if inappropriate images are posted.

What is 6 - 6?

There are currently no comments for this tip. (Be the first to leave your comment—just use the simple form above!)


This Site

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.

Newest Tips
Subscribe

FREE SERVICE: Get tips like this every week in ExcelTips, a free productivity newsletter. Enter your address and click "Subscribe."

(Your e-mail address is not shared with anyone, ever.)

View the most recent newsletter.