[excel] Excel formula is only showing the formula rather than the value within the cell in Office 2010

I've written a formula within an Excel Cell, in Office 2010, and I expect the cell to show its value, but it still shows the formula. How do I get the cell to show the value rather than the formula?

This question is related to excel excel-formula

The answer is


Make sure the format of the cell is set to 'general' not 'text' (right click on cell and choose format cell)

Formula should look something like this:

=1+2

Add an = at the beginning. That makes it a function rather than an entry.


Check the formatting (right click on cell, Format Cells). Under tab "Number" the category should be "General". If, for instance, it's "Text" anything typed in would be treated as a string rather than a formula to be interpreted.


You might be in formula view:

Hit Ctrl + ` to switch


Make sure you include the = sign in addition to passing the arguments to the function. I.E.

=SUM(A1:A3) //this would give you the sum of cells A1, A2, and A3.