Please Note: This article is written for users of the following Microsoft Excel versions: 2007, 2010, 2013, 2016, 2019, and Excel in Office 365. If you are using an earlier version (Excel 2003 or earlier), this tip may not work for you. For a version of this tip written specifically for earlier versions of Excel, click here: Evaluating Formulas.
Often it is frustrating to figure out exactly how Excel arrives at a particular result—particularly if the formula returning the result is quite complex. Fortunately, Excel provides a tool you can use to help figure out what is going on when Excel evaluates a formula.
To use this tool, first select the cell that contains the formula you want evaluated. Then, display the Formulas tab of the ribbon. In the Formula Auditing group click the Evaluate Formula tool. Excel displays the Evaluate Formula dialog box. (See Figure 1.)
Figure 1. The Evaluate Formula dialog box.
At this point, Excel shows the full formula from the cell, and part of it is underlined. This underlined area represents the part of the formula that Excel will next evaluate. This allows you to see what intermediate steps Excel follows in arriving at a result. Every time you click the Evaluate button, Excel replaces the underlined portion of the formula with a result.
Nothing you do with the formula evaluator actually affects the formula in your worksheet; it remains unchanged. Instead, Excel simply shows you what happens as it works through each part of the formula to arrive at a result. When you are done using the formula evaluator, click the Close button.
It should be noted that the formula evaluator is for evaluating just what it says: formulas. It is not for evaluating other items, such as data points on charts or aggregated data in PivotTables.
ExcelTips is your source for cost-effective Microsoft Excel training. This tip (6236) applies to Microsoft Excel 2007, 2010, 2013, 2016, 2019, and Excel in Office 365. You can find a version of this tip for the older menu interface of Excel here: Evaluating Formulas.
Excel Smarts for Beginners! Featuring the friendly and trusted For Dummies style, this popular guide shows beginners how to get up and running with Excel while also helping more experienced users get comfortable with the newest features. Check out Excel 2013 For Dummies today!
If your worksheet formulas seem to go on forever, here's a handy way to make them more understandable. (All you need to ...
Discover MoreIf you keep phone numbers in an Excel worksheet, you may need a way to add an area code to the beginning of all of the ...
Discover MoreAn amortization schedule is a report that shows how the outstanding balance on a loan changes with payments made over ...
Discover MoreFREE SERVICE: Get tips like this every week in ExcelTips, a free productivity newsletter. Enter your address and click "Subscribe."
2019-11-06 16:15:09
Yvan Loranger
Wow, Notepad still exists, I prefer it to WordPad [Notepad automatically gives me a monospace font].
2019-11-05 18:14:39
Yvan Loranger
You won't need to substitute underscores for spaces in your WordPad, just something ExcelTips forced me to do.
I'm sure Allen Wyatt is not responsible.
2019-11-05 17:04:26
Yvan Loranger
Drats, my spacing got fouled up.
I'll try by substituting an underscore for every space [sorry]
Evaluate Formula tool is good. Here is another method.
Assuming the following formula
=MID(A2,IF(B2<9,B2,FIND("Z",A2)),LEN(A2)-C2)
If I copy/paste it into a text editor like Wordpad then format thusly [ensure you use a monospace font like Courier], it helps me see the overall/partial overall picture.
=MID(A2,
_____IF(B2 < 9,
_______B2,
_______FIND("Z",
____________A2
___________)
_______),
_____LEN(A2) - C2 <<< You could bring the ) & following into another line starting below the (
____)
Formatting thusly helps me see the overall/partial overall picture for a range of cells.
2019-11-05 16:55:07
Yvan Loranger
Evaluate Formula tool is good. Here is another method.
Assuming the following formula
=MID(A2,IF(B2<9,B2,FIND("Z",A2)),LEN(A2)-C2)
If I copy/paste it into a text editor like Wordpad then format thusly [ensure you use a monospace font like Courier], it helps me see the overall/partial overall picture.
=MID(A2,
IF(B2 < 9,
B2,
FIND("Z",
A2
)
),
LEN(A2) - C2 <<< You could bring the ) & following into another line starting below the (
)
Formatting thusly helps me see the overall/partial overall picture for a range of cells.
Got a version of Excel that uses the ribbon interface (Excel 2007 or later)? This site is for you! If you use an earlier version of Excel, visit our ExcelTips site focusing on the menu interface.
FREE SERVICE: Get tips like this every week in ExcelTips, a free productivity newsletter. Enter your address and click "Subscribe."
Copyright © 2021 Sharon Parq Associates, Inc.
Please Note:
This article is written for users of the following Microsoft Excel versions: 2007, 2010, 2013, 2016, 2019, and Excel in Office 365. If you are using an earlier version (Excel 2003 or earlier), this tip may not work for you. For a version of this tip written specifically for earlier versions of Excel, click here: 
Comments