Formula shown as a formula rather than it's result
 

Hi everyone

I have Excel 2003 and a large spreadsheet with many formulae. I had to edit
one of them and, when I did, it displayed the formula in the cell, rather
than the result. I made sure that there were no spaces in the formula, nor
was there a leading apostrophe. None of the other formulae were displayed
in this way.

In an effort to find the cause, I closed the workbook and started a new one.
I typed something into cell A2 then typed the formula <=A2 into D4. It
returned the correct result in D4. I tried the similar experiment with the
big workbook that's causing problems but it didn't calculate the value of A2
and return it to D4. It merely displayed <=A2 in D4. The questions I have
a

Is the problem related to the fact that there are several formulae in the
workbook or is there a setting that's been applied (somehow) which is
causing newly entered formulae to be displayed, rather than evaluated?

It's bizarre behaviour, and I want it to stop!

Thanks for your time.

Since you say that it is only a single formula (cell) that's displaying this
problem, try this:

Select the problem cell, then:

<Ctrl <Shift <~
Then <F2
Then
<Enter

What you did was format the cell to General (keyboard shortcut), and then
re-entered it.
--

HTH,

RD
==============================================
Please keep all correspondence within the Group, so all may benefit!
==============================================


"Tosca" wrote in message
...
Hi everyone

I have Excel 2003 and a large spreadsheet with many formulae. I had to edit
one of them and, when I did, it displayed the formula in the cell, rather
than the result. I made sure that there were no spaces in the formula, nor
was there a leading apostrophe. None of the other formulae were displayed
in this way.

In an effort to find the cause, I closed the workbook and started a new one.
I typed something into cell A2 then typed the formula <=A2 into D4. It
returned the correct result in D4. I tried the similar experiment with the
big workbook that's causing problems but it didn't calculate the value of A2
and return it to D4. It merely displayed <=A2 in D4. The questions I have
a

Is the problem related to the fact that there are several formulae in the
workbook or is there a setting that's been applied (somehow) which is
causing newly entered formulae to be displayed, rather than evaluated?

It's bizarre behaviour, and I want it to stop!

Thanks for your time.

Perfect!

However - I checked the format of the cell that caused the problem and it
was <Text. I did as you suggested and, whilst it displays the result
correctly now, the format is still <Text. What exactly does the series of
keystrokes do?

Thanks

"RagDyeR" wrote in message
...
Since you say that it is only a single formula (cell) that's displaying
this
problem, try this:

Select the problem cell, then:

<Ctrl <Shift <~
Then <F2
Then
<Enter

What you did was format the cell to General (keyboard shortcut), and then
re-entered it.
--

HTH,

RD
==============================================
Please keep all correspondence within the Group, so all may benefit!
==============================================

Try clicking Format/Cells and changing the formatting [D4] to General. It
sounds like D4 is formatted as text.

"Tosca" wrote:

Hi everyone

I have Excel 2003 and a large spreadsheet with many formulae. I had to edit
one of them and, when I did, it displayed the formula in the cell, rather
than the result. I made sure that there were no spaces in the formula, nor
was there a leading apostrophe. None of the other formulae were displayed
in this way.

In an effort to find the cause, I closed the workbook and started a new one.
I typed something into cell A2 then typed the formula <=A2 into D4. It
returned the correct result in D4. I tried the similar experiment with the
big workbook that's causing problems but it didn't calculate the value of A2
and return it to D4. It merely displayed <=A2 in D4. The questions I have
a

Is the problem related to the fact that there are several formulae in the
workbook or is there a setting that's been applied (somehow) which is
causing newly entered formulae to be displayed, rather than evaluated?

It's bizarre behaviour, and I want it to stop!

Thanks for your time.

I don't believe that you're looking at the same cell when you say that the
cell is *still* Text.
Maybe the cell beneath it, after you hit <Enter?

As I originally said,
<Ctrl <Shift <~
is a keyboard shortcut to format the cell(s) to "General".
That formatting alone, however, will *not* produce a working formula.

Try it the long way:

Format a cell to Text.
Enter a formula.
You'll see the text displayed *only*.
Then,
<Format <Cells <Number tab,
Click on General, then <OK.

You'll *still* see only the text of the formula.
Go back and re-check the current format of the cell, and you'll see it now
shows as General.

Now, with the cell selected, click anywhere in the formula bar, and hit
<Enter.
OR
Double click in the cell (if you have "Edit In Cell" enabled), and hit
<Enter.

You've re-entered (registered) the formula, and it will now display the
results of the calculation.

<F2 is a keyboard shortcut to enter the "Edit" mode of a selected cell.

So ... all I posted was keyboard shortcuts to:
Change format to General,
Enter Edit mode,
Register the change.
--

HTH,

RD
==============================================
Please keep all correspondence within the Group, so all may benefit!
==============================================


"Tosca" wrote in message
...
Perfect!

However - I checked the format of the cell that caused the problem and it
was <Text. I did as you suggested and, whilst it displays the result
correctly now, the format is still <Text. What exactly does the series of
keystrokes do?

Thanks

"RagDyeR" wrote in message
...
Since you say that it is only a single formula (cell) that's displaying
this
problem, try this:

Select the problem cell, then:

<Ctrl <Shift <~
Then <F2
Then
<Enter

What you did was format the cell to General (keyboard shortcut), and then
re-entered it.
--

HTH,

RD
==============================================
Please keep all correspondence within the Group, so all may benefit!
==============================================

Thank you for the explanation of the shortcuts! It not only made it easier
to understand what you were suggesting as a fix, but better explained what
the problem was as well!!

Best,
Charyn

"RagDyeR" wrote in message
...
I don't believe that you're looking at the same cell when you say that the
cell is *still* Text.
Maybe the cell beneath it, after you hit <Enter?

As I originally said,
<Ctrl <Shift <~
is a keyboard shortcut to format the cell(s) to "General".
That formatting alone, however, will *not* produce a working formula.

Try it the long way:

Format a cell to Text.
Enter a formula.
You'll see the text displayed *only*.
Then,
<Format <Cells <Number tab,
Click on General, then <OK.

You'll *still* see only the text of the formula.
Go back and re-check the current format of the cell, and you'll see it now
shows as General.

Now, with the cell selected, click anywhere in the formula bar, and hit
<Enter.
OR
Double click in the cell (if you have "Edit In Cell" enabled), and hit
<Enter.

You've re-entered (registered) the formula, and it will now display the
results of the calculation.

<F2 is a keyboard shortcut to enter the "Edit" mode of a selected cell.

So ... all I posted was keyboard shortcuts to:
Change format to General,
Enter Edit mode,
Register the change.
--

HTH,

RD
==============================================
Please keep all correspondence within the Group, so all may benefit!
==============================================


"Tosca" wrote in message
...
Perfect!

However - I checked the format of the cell that caused the problem and it
was <Text. I did as you suggested and, whilst it displays the result
correctly now, the format is still <Text. What exactly does the series
of
keystrokes do?

Thanks

"RagDyeR" wrote in message
...
Since you say that it is only a single formula (cell) that's displaying
this
problem, try this:

Select the problem cell, then:

<Ctrl <Shift <~
Then <F2
Then
<Enter

What you did was format the cell to General (keyboard shortcut), and then
re-entered it.
--

HTH,

RD
==============================================
Please keep all correspondence within the Group, so all may benefit!
==============================================

You're quite welcome!
Appreciate the feed-back.
--
Regards,

RD

---------------------------------------------------------------------------
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"Charyn" wrote in message
...
Thank you for the explanation of the shortcuts! It not only made it
easier
to understand what you were suggesting as a fix, but better explained what
the problem was as well!!

Best,
Charyn

"RagDyeR" wrote in message
...
I don't believe that you're looking at the same cell when you say that
the
cell is *still* Text.
Maybe the cell beneath it, after you hit <Enter?

As I originally said,
<Ctrl <Shift <~
is a keyboard shortcut to format the cell(s) to "General".
That formatting alone, however, will *not* produce a working formula.

Try it the long way:

Format a cell to Text.
Enter a formula.
You'll see the text displayed *only*.
Then,
<Format <Cells <Number tab,
Click on General, then <OK.

You'll *still* see only the text of the formula.
Go back and re-check the current format of the cell, and you'll see it
now
shows as General.

Now, with the cell selected, click anywhere in the formula bar, and hit
<Enter.
OR
Double click in the cell (if you have "Edit In Cell" enabled), and hit
<Enter.

You've re-entered (registered) the formula, and it will now display the
results of the calculation.

<F2 is a keyboard shortcut to enter the "Edit" mode of a selected cell.

So ... all I posted was keyboard shortcuts to:
Change format to General,
Enter Edit mode,
Register the change.
--

HTH,

RD
==============================================
Please keep all correspondence within the Group, so all may benefit!
==============================================


"Tosca" wrote in message
...
Perfect!

However - I checked the format of the cell that caused the problem and
it
was <Text. I did as you suggested and, whilst it displays the result
correctly now, the format is still <Text. What exactly does the series
of
keystrokes do?

Thanks

"RagDyeR" wrote in message
...
Since you say that it is only a single formula (cell) that's displaying
this
problem, try this:

Select the problem cell, then:

<Ctrl <Shift <~
Then <F2
Then
<Enter

What you did was format the cell to General (keyboard shortcut), and
then
re-entered it.
--

HTH,

RD
==============================================
Please keep all correspondence within the Group, so all may benefit!
==============================================