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

Viewing Formula Results

Written by Allen Wyatt (last updated May 28, 2022)

1

When you are developing complex formulas, or when you are examining the formulas developed by others, it can often be beneficial to look at the results of a particular portion of a formula. For instance, consider the following formula:

=(C2+F7)*C3/F8

You may want to know the value of C3/F8. In order to find this out, you can do the following:

  1. Press F2 to edit the formula in the cell.
  2. Select the portion of the formula whose value you want to see. In this instance, you would select C3/F8.
  3. Press F9. Excel replaces the portion of the formula with its result.

At this point, you have two options. If you press Enter or otherwise move to a different cell, Excel assumes you have edited the formula and makes the change. The second option is to press the Esc key, which tells Excel to not make any changes to the formula.

ExcelTips is your source for cost-effective Microsoft Excel training. This tip (12157) applies to Microsoft Excel 2007, 2010, 2013, 2016, 2019, 2021, and Excel in Microsoft 365. You can find a version of this tip for the older menu interface of Excel here: Viewing Formula Results.

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. ...

MORE FROM ALLEN

Making Squares

Cells in a worksheet defined by the intersection of rows and columns. If you adjust row height and column width just ...

Discover More

Printing More Than One Copy

Need to print more than a single copy of a worksheet? You can do it easily by using the controls in the Print dialog box.

Discover More

Ignoring Paragraph Marks when Pasting

Paste information in a worksheet, and you may end up with Excel placing it into lots of different cells. If you want it ...

Discover More

Program Successfully in Excel! This guide will provide you with all the information you need to automate any task in Excel and save time and effort. Learn how to extend Excel's functionality with VBA to create solutions not possible with the standard features. Includes latest information for Excel 2024 and Microsoft 365. Check out Mastering Excel VBA Programming today!

More ExcelTips (ribbon)

Removing Spaces around Dashes

A common editing task with Excel data is to remove spaces that may surround dashes within text. This tip presents several ...

Discover More

Weird Pasting Behavior

The Clipboard is integral to editing data in your worksheets. What happens, though, when the Clipboard doesn't allow you ...

Discover More

Moving and Selecting Rows

If you need to move down a row and then select that row, you may wonder if there is a shortcut to handle such a ...

Discover More
Subscribe

FREE SERVICE: Get tips like this every week in ExcelTips, a free productivity newsletter. Enter your address and click "Subscribe."

View most recent newsletter.

(Your e-mail address is not shared with anyone, ever.)

Comments

If you would like to add an image to your comment (not an avatar, but an image to help in making the point of your comment), include the characters [{fig}] (all 7 characters, in the sequence shown) in your comment text. You’ll be prompted to upload your image when you submit the comment. Maximum image size is 6Mpixels. Images larger than 600px wide or 1000px tall will be reduced. Up to three images may be included in a comment. All images are subject to review. Commenting privileges may be curtailed if inappropriate images are posted.

What is seven more than 1?

2022-05-28 10:03:22

J. Woolley

You might also consider Evaluate Formula in the Formula Auditing section of the Formulas ribbon.

This Site

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.

Newest Tips
Subscribe

FREE SERVICE: Get tips like this every week in ExcelTips, a free productivity newsletter. Enter your address and click "Subscribe."

(Your e-mail address is not shared with anyone, ever.)

View the most recent newsletter.

Links and Sharing
OUR COMPANY
OUR PRODUCTS
OUR SITES
 

Copyright © 2026 Sharon Parq Associates, Inc.