software

Yesterday I encountered a problem with Excel formulas. Several cells began to
display the formula instead of the result on one of my spreadsheets.

My formula was simple: =$f$1

Instead of displaying the value of F1, it actually displays quot;=$F$1quot;

Reviewing the posts from yesterday, I count 4 people posting with the EXACT
SAME PROBLEM.

The symptoms are the same. Cells display the formula instead of the result.
NONE of the proposed solutions help.

I know most of the settings for Excel so I checked the obvious: Are cells
set to calculate automatically: YES. In the view settings are formulas
checked for display: NO. Is there a formula error that causes the formula to
be displayed (extra =): NO

Several people proposed checking whether the format was set to text:

FORMATTING AS TEXT IS NOT SUPPOSED TO DISPLAY FORMULAS!! Formatting as text
should display the formula RESULTS AS TEXT!

Why are so many people suddenly having this problem? Was there a recent
update to Excel that could affect this? Is there a coding error that somehow
was triggered by the date?

Is there anyone who can get to the bottom of this?

lt;Why are so many people suddenly having this problem?gt;

That is not the case. It is simply one of the most frequent questions here.

About formatting as text: if the cell was formatted as text before you entered the function, then happens what you describe. Just
formatting as something else afterwards doesn't help.
Format as General AND re-enter the formula (F2, ENTER). If there are many cells involved, format them as General and do a Find and
replace, replacing quot;=quot; with quot;=quot;--
Kind regards,

Niek Otten

quot;Rayo Kquot; gt; wrote in message ...
gt; Yesterday I encountered a problem with Excel formulas. Several cells began to
gt; display the formula instead of the result on one of my spreadsheets.
gt;
gt; My formula was simple: =$f$1
gt;
gt; Instead of displaying the value of F1, it actually displays quot;=$F$1quot;
gt;
gt; Reviewing the posts from yesterday, I count 4 people posting with the EXACT
gt; SAME PROBLEM.
gt;
gt; The symptoms are the same. Cells display the formula instead of the result.
gt; NONE of the proposed solutions help.
gt;
gt; I know most of the settings for Excel so I checked the obvious: Are cells
gt; set to calculate automatically: YES. In the view settings are formulas
gt; checked for display: NO. Is there a formula error that causes the formula to
gt; be displayed (extra =): NO
gt;
gt; Several people proposed checking whether the format was set to text:
gt;
gt; FORMATTING AS TEXT IS NOT SUPPOSED TO DISPLAY FORMULAS!! Formatting as text
gt; should display the formula RESULTS AS TEXT!
gt;
gt; Why are so many people suddenly having this problem? Was there a recent
gt; update to Excel that could affect this? Is there a coding error that somehow
gt; was triggered by the date?
gt;
gt; Is there anyone who can get to the bottom of this?
If you enter a formula into cell defined as TEXT you literally get the
formula displayed e.g =SUM(A1:A10) will appear exactly as quot;=SUM(A1:A10)quot; .
Formatting as TEXT means anything entered is treated as TEXT, formulas or not.

If you change format to GENERAL, click F2 and then ENTER, it will perform as
expected.quot;Rayo Kquot; wrote:

gt; Yesterday I encountered a problem with Excel formulas. Several cells began to
gt; display the formula instead of the result on one of my spreadsheets.
gt;
gt; My formula was simple: =$f$1
gt;
gt; Instead of displaying the value of F1, it actually displays quot;=$F$1quot;
gt;
gt; Reviewing the posts from yesterday, I count 4 people posting with the EXACT
gt; SAME PROBLEM.
gt;
gt; The symptoms are the same. Cells display the formula instead of the result.
gt; NONE of the proposed solutions help.
gt;
gt; I know most of the settings for Excel so I checked the obvious: Are cells
gt; set to calculate automatically: YES. In the view settings are formulas
gt; checked for display: NO. Is there a formula error that causes the formula to
gt; be displayed (extra =): NO
gt;
gt; Several people proposed checking whether the format was set to text:
gt;
gt; FORMATTING AS TEXT IS NOT SUPPOSED TO DISPLAY FORMULAS!! Formatting as text
gt; should display the formula RESULTS AS TEXT!
gt;
gt; Why are so many people suddenly having this problem? Was there a recent
gt; update to Excel that could affect this? Is there a coding error that somehow
gt; was triggered by the date?
gt;
gt; Is there anyone who can get to the bottom of this?

And another possible cause...

Excel likes to help.

Try this on a test worksheet.
Select A1 and hit ctrl-; (to put the date in the cell)
now select B1 and type: =a1

Notice that excel changed the format of B1 to match the format in A1.

Now format D1 as Text.
put ASDF in D1
put =D1 in E1
You see ASDF.

With E1 selected, hit the F2 key and then enter (to pretend that you're changing
the formula).

Excel has quot;helpedquot; you by changing that cell's format to text.

I don't know of any way of changing this behavior.

I just select the cell, and reformat it to General (or whatever I wanted). I
hit F2 and then enter (to reenter that formula).

Sometimes this feature is nice, sometimes it ain't.

Rayo K wrote:
gt;
gt; Yesterday I encountered a problem with Excel formulas. Several cells began to
gt; display the formula instead of the result on one of my spreadsheets.
gt;
gt; My formula was simple: =$f$1
gt;
gt; Instead of displaying the value of F1, it actually displays quot;=$F$1quot;
gt;
gt; Reviewing the posts from yesterday, I count 4 people posting with the EXACT
gt; SAME PROBLEM.
gt;
gt; The symptoms are the same. Cells display the formula instead of the result.
gt; NONE of the proposed solutions help.
gt;
gt; I know most of the settings for Excel so I checked the obvious: Are cells
gt; set to calculate automatically: YES. In the view settings are formulas
gt; checked for display: NO. Is there a formula error that causes the formula to
gt; be displayed (extra =): NO
gt;
gt; Several people proposed checking whether the format was set to text:
gt;
gt; FORMATTING AS TEXT IS NOT SUPPOSED TO DISPLAY FORMULAS!! Formatting as text
gt; should display the formula RESULTS AS TEXT!
gt;
gt; Why are so many people suddenly having this problem? Was there a recent
gt; update to Excel that could affect this? Is there a coding error that somehow
gt; was triggered by the date?
gt;
gt; Is there anyone who can get to the bottom of this?

--

Dave Peterson