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. For “formulas are not working in excel”, the reliable version is a short checking loop, not just the first command that appears to work. Run it on a deliberately small range first, watch how the affected formula change, and only then apply the same setup to the full sheet. 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. That is what makes a calculation you can defend to a CFO or an auditor useful in real work: repeatable, auditable, and not dependent on memory or luck.
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. A practical tip: try it on a copy of the sheet or a handful of sample rows first and check the result before you apply it to the real data. That one habit catches almost every surprise while it is still cheap to reverse.
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 “formulas are not working in excel” 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.