
To exit the formula evaluation mode, press the Esc key. If you select only the cell range (A2:A6) and press F9, you will see the actual values instead of the cell references: AVERAGE(A2:A6), and press F9, Excel will display its calculated value: Select the formula part you want to test and press F9.įor example, if you select the first Average function, i.e.Press F2 or double click the selected cell to enter the Edit mode.Select the cell with the formula, D1 in this example.To evaluate each of the two Average functions included in the formula individually, do the following: Supposing you have the following IF formula in your worksheet: The following example demonstrates Excel's F9 key in action. It lets you evaluate only the selected part of the formula by replacing it with the actual values that part operates on, or with the calculated result. In Microsoft Excel, F9 key is an easy and quick way to check and debug formulas. It only works when you are editing a formula, not a value. Press Ctrl + A to jump from editing a formula in a cell to the formula bar. As soon as you press F2, or double click the cell, or click the formula bar, the word Edit will appear right below the sheet tabs: Whichever editing method you choose, a visual indication of the Edit mode can be found at the bottom-left corner of the screen. Is Excel's F2 approach more efficient or does it have any advantages? Nope :) Simply some people prefer working from the keyboard most of the time while others find it more convenient to use the mouse. Clicking anywhere within the formula bar.Two other ways to enter the Edit mode in Excel are: These days, F2 is often considered an old-fashioned way to edit formulas. Click OK to save the changes and close the dialog.In the right pane, uncheck the Allow editing directly in cells option under Editing Options.If you prefer editing formulas in the Excel formula bar, do the following: Editing directly in a cell or in the formula barīy default, pressing the F2 key in Excel positions the cursor at the end of the formula in a cell. To exit the Edit mode without making any changes to the formula, press the Esc key. When you are done editing, press Enter to complete the formula. Press Delete or Backspace to delete certain cell references or other elements of the formula.Use the arrow keys together with Shift to select the formula parts (the same can be done using the mouse).Use the left and right arrows to navigate within the formula.And now, you can make any edits in the formula: Once you do this, the cursor starts flashing at the end of the closing parenthesis in the cell or formula bar (depending on whether the Allow editing directly in cells option is checked or unchecked). When you want to make changes to an existing formula, select the formula cell and press F2 to enter the Edit mode. The F2 key in Excel toggles between Edit and Enter modes.


Highlight all cells a given formula refers to.Highlight and match parenthesis pairs in Excel formulas.Debug a formula by using the Evaluate Formula feature.Use F9 to evaluate and debug formula parts.Today, I'd like to share a few tips and techniques to check, evaluate and debug Excel formulas that will hopefully help you work even more efficiently with Excel.
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If you've had a chance to read them, you already know how to write formulas in Excel, how to show formulas in cells, how to hide and lock formulas, and more. In the last few tutorials, we have been investigating different aspects of Excel formulas. See how to use the F9 key to evaluate formula parts, how to highlight cells that reference or are referenced by a given formula, how to determine mismatched or misplaced parentheses, and more. In this tutorial, you will learn a few quick and efficient ways to check and debug formulas in Excel.
