If the cell is formatted into Text, Excel won’t calculate the formula as it treats the formula as text. Read More: How to Show All Formulas in Excel (4 Easy & Quick Methods)

To avoid the problem, simply go to the Formula ribbon and disable the Show Formulas mode. Sometimes the Show Formulas option from the Formulas ribbon gets enabled because of pressing Ctrl+` from the keyboard. The resultant dataset will look like this: Otherwise, Excel will take the cell as simple text. Using an equal sign before the formula is a must thing in Excel. A dataset is shown below indicating this problem. Quotes can only be used inside the formula if it’s necessary. Maximum time online, people indicate the formula by wrapping it in quotes. Read More: How to Show Formulas When Printing in Excel Omitting spaces before the Equal signs of the formulas will solve this problem. Here we have a dataset and it’s not showing the result value as we use a space before it. There is a rule that all formulas must start with an equal sign and put a space before it, which violates that rule. Sometimes we put a space before the equal sign by mistake. Using Space Before Equal Sign for Showing Formula Instead of Result If you are using the example, edit the formula in cell B9 to change the division sign ( /) to a minus sign ( -).8 Reasons for Showing Formula Instead of Result in Excel 1. If you are using the example, create a formula in cell G5 that multiplies the cost of napkins by the quantity needed to calculate the total cost. Try using the point-and-click method to create a formula.

Notice how the formula in cell B4 recalculates the total. If you are using the example, change the value of cell B2 to $2,000.

Try modifying the value of a cell referenced in a formula.

If you are using the example, create the formula in cell B4 to calculate the total budget.

Create a simple addition formula using cell references.

If you want, you can use our practice workbook. You can press Ctrl+` again to switch back to the normal view. The grave accent key is usually located in the top-left corner of the keyboard. To show all of the formulas in a spreadsheet, you can hold the Ctrl key and press ` (grave accent). If you change your mind, you can press the Esc key on your keyboard to avoid accidentally making changes to your formula.

Excel is showing formula not result