Evaluating Formulas

I have been on this site for a while and I have noticed that some people request some help figuring out how a formula is worked out in Excel. In 2010 (and I beleive in 2007) there is actually a helper for this.

If the formula is not creating errors you can click on the cell then click on the Formula tab and then the under the Formula auditing group....there is an Evaluate Formula button...then just click Evaluate. Closely watch the underscore and it will "walk" through what Excel is "Thinking" when figuring out your formula....I find this great for finding logic errors...I'm the forum guru's know about this but I haven't seen nor could I find anything on this subject....of course, that's not to say it's not there....I hope this helps.....

Nice reminder of a useful tool ! Just wish MS had made the evaluate formula window somewhat larger. it sometimes hard to read especially with array formulas

@yudlugar - thanks for the update - great to know

@Pepe - I agree and thanks for mentioning that....I was going to mention that array formulas are a little though to walk through....thanks again....

Amen to all.

Now check this recent thread out.....

http://www.excelforum.com/excel-tips...a-formula.html

This tip has been an immense help to me in evaluating formulas. Apparently that is true for others.

I hope it helps you, too.

Im glad it helped you, Flameretired, I use the Fx button constantly

If you're using Excel 2003 or earlier, the Evaluate Formula command will cause Excel to crash when evaluating certain types of array formulas that reference many cells.

Originally Posted by Tony Valko

If you're using Excel 2003 or earlier, the Evaluate Formula command will cause Excel to crash when evaluating certain types of array formulas that reference many cells.

In Advanced Versions also with the below one which referred to whole column

=LOOKUP(2,1/(A:A="x"),ROW(A:A))