Why is formula displayed?

[evoxfan]

I am in cell G307. This is my formula:
=VLOOKUP(F306,$f$27:$g306,2)
This is the results:
VENDOR ONE

But when I hit enter to finalize the formula, the formula is displayed in
the cell not the answer.

How can I correct this so that the results are visible and the formula is
not shown in the cell?
Other formulas are working correctly, but I do have a filter on if that
makes any difference.

Thanks in advance.

 

[Niek Otten]

The cell was formatted as text before you entered the formula.
Format as General (or number) AND re-enter the formula (F2, ENTER): just
re-formatting is not enough.

 

[Rita]

Hi Niek,
I encountered the same problem, reformatted the cells to number and here's
what happened:
1) when I keyed in a cell-by-cell formula, it worked:
=A48+A44+A38+A32+A26+A20+A14+A8+A3
2) when I try to sum a range with the auto sum button, which returns
=SUM(A3:A48), I get zero.
I just switched to Excel 2007; NEVER had this problem with 2003. There must
be something really dumb I am overlooking.
Thanks for your help!
Rita

 

[Niek Otten]

The "ne,bers" you are trying to sum are text, not numbers. The SUM()
function and the addition operator treat them differently.

Copy an empty cell. Select the "numbers". Paste>Paste Special, check Add.
Now they are numbers.

 

[Rita]

Thanks! It worked.

The "ne,bers" you are trying to sum are text, not numbers. The SUM()
function and the addition operator treat them differently.

Copy an empty cell. Select the "numbers". Paste>Paste Special, check Add.
Now they are numbers.

--
Kind regards,

Niek Otten
Microsoft MVP - Excel