Please Note: This article is written for users of the following Microsoft Excel versions: 2007, 2010, 2013, 2016, 2019, Excel in Microsoft 365, and 2021. 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: Controlling Display of the Formula Bar.

Controlling Display of the Formula Bar

Written by Allen Wyatt (last updated September 16, 2023)
This tip applies to Excel 2007, 2010, 2013, 2016, 2019, Excel in Microsoft 365, and 2021

1

The Formula Bar is the area at the top of the Excel window, just below the ribbon area or the Formatting toolbar, depending on your version of Excel. The Formula Bar has two parts: at the left is the Name Box, and to the right is the contents of the currently selected cell.

If you need more room to view a worksheet, or you don't need the information provided by the Formula Bar, you can turn it off. To control display of the Formula Bar, follow these steps:

  1. Display the Excel Options dialog box. (In Excel 2007 click the Office button and then click Excel Options. In Excel 2010 or a later version, display the File tab of the ribbon and then click Options.)
  2. At the left side of the dialog box click Advanced.
  3. Scroll down until you see the Display options. (See Figure 1.)

    4. Figure 1. The Advanced options of the Excel Options dialog box.

  4. Click on the Show Formula Bar check box. If it is selected, then the Formula Bar is displayed; not selected means it won't be displayed.
  5. Click on OK.

You can also use the Formula Bar option from the View tab of the ribbon. This option functions like a toggle—click on it once and the Formula Bar disappears; click again and it reappears.

ExcelTips is your source for cost-effective Microsoft Excel training. This tip (7558) applies to Microsoft Excel 2007, 2010, 2013, 2016, 2019, Excel in Microsoft 365, and 2021. You can find a version of this tip for the older menu interface of Excel here: Controlling Display of the Formula Bar.

Author Bio

Allen Wyatt

With more than 50 non-fiction books and numerous magazine articles to his credit, Allen Wyatt is an internationally recognized author. He is president of Sharon Parq Associates, a computer and publishing services company. ...

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What is three less than 3?

2023-09-17 10:02:14

J. Woolley

My Excel Toolbox includes the ToggleFormulaBar macro (Ctrl+T F B) to turn the formula bar off or on. The macro supports Undo (Ctrl+Z). Here is an abbreviated version:

Public Sub ToggleFormulaBar()
    Const myName As String = "ToggleFormulaBar"
    With Application
        .DisplayFormulaBar = (Not .DisplayFormulaBar)
        .OnUndo myName, (ThisWorkbook.Name + "!" + myName)
    End With
End Sub

Similar macros include ToggleRibbon, ToggleStatusBar, ToggleScrollBars, and ToggleFullScreen.
The WindowDressing macro will toggle several properties for the active worksheet or all worksheets. See my comment dated 2022-02-23 here: https://excelribbon.tips.net/T009308_Controlling_Where_You_Edit_Cell_Contents.html
See https://sites.google.com/view/MyExcelToolbox

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