Disappearing Status Bar

Catherine uses keystrokes where she can (instead of the mouse) and she seems to periodically hit a key combination which makes the status bar disappear. She has yet to discover what the keystroke combination is or how to get the status bar back without shutting Excel down and restarting.

The only way that this can happen in Excel 2007 or later versions is through the use of a macro. This is because the capability to turn off the status bar, which was present in earlier versions of Excel, was removed starting with Excel 2007. (A user cannot turn it off, but a macro can.)

Thus, if your status bar is disappearing as you are using Excel, then it stands to reason that there is a macro on your system that is being triggered (perhaps by a shortcut key you are pressing) and the macro is turning off the status bar. You'll need to do some poking through your macros to see if this is, indeed, the case. Specifically, as you are poking about, you'll want to look for a line that looks similar to this:

Application.DisplayStatusBar = False

If the macro executes such a line without later setting the DisplayStatusBar property to True, then you won't see your status bar.

There is another macro-related possible cause for the problem, as well. If you don't use macros in your workbooks, yet you work with workbooks that come from others, it is possible that their workbooks are the root of the problem because they may contain macros. If you suspect this as a possible cause, try these steps:

1. Press Alt+F11. Excel opens the Visual Basic Editor.
2. Press Ctrl+G. The Immediate window opens in the Visual Basic Editor.
3. Type the following into the Immediate window and press Enter:

Application.DisplayStatusBar = True

4. Press Alt+Q. The Visual Basic Editor closes, and you are returned to Excel.

If this doesn't work and there are no macros, then it is most possible that you are pressing, in sequence, a shortcut such as Alt+W, E. This puts Excel into full-screen mode, which means that the worksheet takes up the maximum possible space on the screen. In this mode the status bar is not displayed. You can get out of this viewing mode by simply pressing Esc at any time.

Another technique to try is to click on the File tab of the ribbon and then go back to your worksheet. Some ExcelTips readers advised that this method works when their status bar disappears.

ExcelTips is your source for cost-effective Microsoft Excel training. This tip (9144) applies to Microsoft Excel 2007, 2010, 2013, 2016, 2019, and 2021. You can find a version of this tip for the older menu interface of Excel here: Disappearing Status Bar.