Why does forumula show in cell instead of formula result?

[Ashley]

Sometimes when I enter a formula into an Excel cell, the formula itself is
displayed in the cell instead of the formula result. However, when I open
Formula Wizard, the Wizard shows the correct formula result that should be
displayed in the cell. Why does this happen and how do I get it to stop
happening?

 

[T. Valko]

It sounds like the cell is formatted as TEXT.

Change the cell format to General. Then, with the cell still selected hit
function key F2 then hit Enter.

 

[Dave Peterson]

Or you could be looking at formulas

In xl2003 menus:
tools|options|view tab|uncheck formulas

(It's under the Office Button|Excel options (somewhere) in xl2007.)

Or you can use:
ctrl-` (ctrl-backquote (the key to the left of the 1/! on my USA keyboard) to
toggle this setting in any version of excel.