Expert: Tom Ogilvy - 8/23/2006

Question
My spreadsheet just started showing formulas instead of their results.  I have several formulas alread on the page that work fine, but whenever I add a new one, it displays the formula instead of the result.  I've tried (ctl '), tuned on/off options->window 'show formula'.  When I turn the global show formula on, all formulas display, when I turn it off, all the old forumulas go back to normal, but the new ones continue to display the formula instead of the results.  When I copy a good formula to a new cell, it works fine.

Answer
Hello Art,

this can happen for two reasons

1. the cell containing the formula is formatted as text

2. the cell the formula refers to is formatted as text.

If you remove the text formatting and re-enter the formula, it should work

If that isn't an option, select the entire sheet and do

Edit=>Replace
 Replace What:  =
 Replace With:  =

so select to replace all equal signs with equal signs.  This will cause the formula to be reevaluated and treated as a formula.  Unfortunately, you will have to do it each time the formula is edited.  

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Regards,
Tom Ogilvy