Formulas Appearing in Cell Instead of Result - EXCEL 2016 for Mac

Question

I am working in Excel 2016 for the Mac, version 16.20, build 181208.

I am experiencing frequent problems with formulas, or partial formulas, appearing in cells instead of the results. 

• This does not happen in all cells on the affected workbook, or on all workbooks.
• I have checked the cell format and it is not text, and is the same for cells that do not have problems.
• "Edit directly in Cells" is not checked.
• 

See cell V4. Cell U4 has a formula but shows results correctly..

Help!

Answer 1

This appears to be a guess rather than an informed solution. 

I am disinclined to try this.

Answer 2

Hi Danssmith1,

 We would like to try the best on the issue you have. Generally, the formula only shows text when:

 1. use “show formula” button. But this feature should affect all formulas in a sheet, so we know this is not the cause.

 2. Use “text” format for the cell. But we have known you are not doing so.

 3. Input a space or ‘ in front of the specific cell. But based on the screenshot, this is not the cause either.

As it is an unknown issue, all my suggestion aim to narrow down the problem. If you meet this issue again, we will appreciate you can help us narrow down the issue together by the steps I mentioned above, and share us the problematic workbook without private information. In this way, we can try to repro this issue on our side which will help a lot.

Thanks for your understanding.

Regards,

Eric

Answer 3

Hi Danssmith1,

You are always welcome to share your latest condition here if the issue still persists.

Regards,

Eric

Answer 4

Of course the conditions persists - I never got an explanation or solution from any response. It is clear to me that there is little purpose in spending more time on this. I will live with it as I live with multiple Office problems.

Answer 5

Hi Dan,

So far, Microsoft paid agents and employees have tried to help out. Now a fellow user is chiming in.

I think I understand what is happening, but I want to be sure. You are seeing formulas in cells instead of values not only when the cell is selected, but also when the cell is not selected. Is my understanding correct? If the problem happens only when a cell is selected, that's a different condition.

Version 16.21 of Excel is now available. I suggest you install it, then test again.

INSTALL UPDATES :

Ensure your Mac and Office have the latest updates. Here’s how to install updates:

Make sure your Mac has a working internet connection, then:

1. Update Mac OS X. Open the App store and click on the Updates button. Install the updates.

**2.**After, in any Office application go to the Help menu and choose Check for Updates to launch the AutoUpdate app. Let AutoUpdate install updates and then restart your Mac.

If you use Antidote, Webex, Silverlight, EndNote, Zotero, Mendeley, Suitcase, 3^rd^ party font management tools or other add-ins there is a potential for crashes and unwanted misbehavior unless you also update your add-ins to the latest update. Install updates for these programs if you have them.

Please reply as to whether or not the problem exists in version 16.21

Thanks.