Entering a Formula; Remains a Formula Instead of Calculating

[billbrandi]

From time to time, when I enter a formula into an Excel cell, the formula is
displayed instead of the calculated value. Example, entering an IF statement
and hitting enter results in the IF statement being displayed with the Equals
(=) sign.

What is causing this and how do I correct?

 

[Dave Peterson]

It could be caused by a few things.

The first/easiest thing to check is to make sure you're not looking at formulas.

In xl2003 menus,
Tools|Options|View tab, make sure Formulas is not checked.
The shortcut key is: ctrl-`
(control-backquote to the left of the 1/! on my USA keyboard)

If this isn't it, then...

Saved from a previous post.

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 "helped" 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.