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)
This tip applies to Excel 2007, 2010, 2013, 2016, 2019, 2021, and Excel in Microsoft 365

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. ...

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What is 2 + 5?

2022-05-28 10:03:22

J. Woolley

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

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