In Excel: check Formulas ▸ Calculation Options is on Automatic, make sure the cell is not formatted as Text, and confirm Show Formulas (Ctrl+`) is off.
On this page7
Open Formulas ▸ Calculation Options and set it to Automatic.
Select the offending cell and look at Home ▸ Number: if it says Text, change it to General.
Press F2 then Enter on that cell to re-commit it, or select the column and use Data ▸ Text to Columns ▸ Finish to re-enter a whole range at once.
Press Ctrl+` to toggle Show Formulas off if every formula on the sheet is displaying as text.
Press Ctrl+Alt+F9 to force a full rebuild when a single value still looks stuck, and check the status bar for a Circular References warning.
Need it as an auditable file?
Ships inside the linked template — formula-driven, unlocked, audit-ready.
What this does
A formula that displays its own text, or a number that never updates, has one of four causes and they are worth checking in order: calculation is set to Manual; the cell was formatted as Text before the formula was typed, so Excel stored it as a string; Show Formulas is toggled on for the whole sheet; or the entry begins with a stray apostrophe that forces it to be treated as text. Most people learn this as a sequence of clicks and forget it by next week; learning it as a pattern instead is what lets you apply it to the next, slightly different version of the problem without starting from scratch. That is the difference this page is trying to make. The difference between a quick fix and a sheet you can trust is the extra minute you spend validating “excel functions not working”. Start on a copy or a tiny sample, keep the affected formula visible, and compare the result with the tool above before you touch the real workbook. When this is a ribbon command, the selection matters more than the button: confirm the range, apply the command, then spot-check the output before saving. The point is a calculation you can defend to a CFO or an auditor, but the practical win is that someone else can open the file and understand what happened without asking you.
A worked example
C2 shows =B2*1.2 instead of 60. The Number group reads Text. Set it to General, press F2 then Enter to re-commit the entry, and the cell displays 60. Applying General alone changes nothing — the stored value is still a string until the cell is re-entered. Every one of these failures looks like a broken formula and none of them is, so the time is lost rewriting a formula that was correct all along. When the result is not what you expected, undo straight away rather than repairing it by hand — undo restores the sheet exactly, while manual fixes tend to leave small inconsistencies behind that surface later.
In Google Sheets
This is a command rather than a formula, so there is no syntax to carry over. Google Sheets arranges its commands in menus across the top instead of a ribbon, names some of them differently and does not have every Excel command — look for the equivalent in the Sheets menus or its help before assuming the steps match. The aim was to get you unstuck fast and leave you a little more capable than a copy-paste would. The answer is at the top and the detail above shows why it holds — so the next time a colleague asks, you can answer without reaching for search. Treat “excel functions not working” as a routine rather than a one-off. Once you know which setting or command controls it, the same few steps handle every workbook where it comes up in Excel, and you can explain them to a colleague in a sentence.
Common mistakes
- Setting the cell to General and expecting it to calculate without re-entering — the format change alone does not re-parse the stored text.
- Leaving calculation on Manual for one heavy workbook and not noticing that the mode applies to every file opened in that session.
- Ignoring the word Calculate in the status bar, which is Excel saying results on screen are out of date.
- Deleting and retyping the formula in a cell that is still formatted as Text, which reproduces the problem exactly.
Frequently asked questions
Why does my formula show as text instead of a result?
The cell is formatted as Text, or the entry starts with an apostrophe. Set the format to General and re-enter it with F2 and Enter.
Why does one workbook calculate and another not?
Calculation mode is saved with the file, and the first workbook opened in a session sets the mode for all of them.
What is the difference between F9 and Ctrl+Alt+F9?
F9 recalculates what Excel thinks has changed. Ctrl+Alt+F9 recalculates everything, which is what to use when a value is stuck.
The status bar says Calculate — what does that mean?
Manual mode is on and results are stale. Press F9, or switch Calculation Options back to Automatic.
Other ways people ask this
People reach this page typing “excel is not function”, “excel drag formula not working”, “excel shortcut keys not working” and “unhiding rows in excel not working”, among other phrasings; whichever wording you used, the fix above is the one you want.
Is there a keyboard shortcut for this?
Yes — “excel functions not working” is one key combination away rather than a trip through the menus. Use the Windows/Mac toggle above to see the exact keys for your machine, and remember Ctrl on Windows maps to ⌘ on Mac.
Why do people search for this in so many different ways?
Because the same task has many names. “excel is not function”, “excel drag formula not working”, “excel shortcut keys not working” all point at the one operation explained on this page, which is why they all lead here.