Excel formulas not working, not updating, not calculating: fixes & solutions

This tutorial explains the most common mistakes when making formulas in Excel, and how to fix a formula that is not calculating or not updating automatically.

Can someone imagine using Microsoft Excel without formulas? I believe no one can. And hardly anything could compare to the frustration caused by Excel formulas stop working all of a sudden. When this happens, a bunch of questions immediately flash across your mind. Why is my Excel formula not calculating? Why doesn't this formula update its value automatically? Is my Excel corrupt or is this due to some malicious virus? And how do I get my Excel to calculate and update formulas automatically again? Don't worry, most likely your Excel is all right, and you will get all the answers in a moment.

Excel formulas not working

Symptoms: Excel formula not working correctly, it returns an error or a wrong result.

This section provides a summary of the most common mistakes people make when creating formulas in Excel and solutions to fix them.

1. Match all opening and closing parentheses in a formula

As you know, the arguments of Excel functions are entered within the parentheses. In complex formulas, you may need to enter more than one set of parentheses, one within another, to indicate the order in which the calculations should take place. When creating such a formula, be sure to pair the parentheses properly so that you always have a right parenthesis for every left parenthesis in your formula.

Microsoft Excel displays the parentheses pairs in different colors as you enter them in a formula. If your formula is short of one or more parentheses, Excel displays an error message and suggests a correction to balance the pairs. Please see How to highlight and match parenthesis pairs for more information.

2. Enter all required arguments in an Excel function

All Excel functions have one or more required arguments. Some functions also have optional arguments, which are enclosed in [square brackets] in the formula's syntax.

A formula must contain all of the required arguments, otherwise Excel displays "You've entered too few arguments for this function" alert.

If you have entered more arguments than allowed by the formula's syntax, you will get "You've entered too many arguments for this function" error message.

3. Do not nest more than 64 functions in a formula

When nesting two or more Excel functions into each other, e.g. creating a nested IF formula, remember about the following limitations:

  • In Excel 2016, Excel 2013, Excel 2010 and Excel 2007, you can use up to 64 nested functions.
  • In Excel 2003 and lower, only up to 7 nested functions can be used.

4. Don't enclose numbers in double quotes

In Excel formulas, any value enclosed in double quotes is interpreted as a text string.

What it means is that if you enter a formula like =IF(A1>0, "1"), Excel will treat number 1 as text, and therefore you won't be able to use the returned 1's in other calculations. To fix this, just remove the double quotes around "1": =IF(A1>0, 1).

So, whenever you are writing a formula for numerical values, follow this simple rule: don't enclose numbers in double quotes unless you want them to be treated as text.

5. Enter numbers without any formatting

When using a number in an Excel formula, don't add any decimal separator or currency sign like $ or €.

Remember that in Excel formulas, a comma is typically used to separate a function's arguments, and the dollar sign makes an absolute cell reference.

For instance, instead of entering $50,000 in your formula, input simply 50000, and use the Format Cells dialog (Ctrl + 1) to format the output to your liking.

6. Make sure numbers are not formatted as text values

Numbers formatted as text values are another common reason for Excel formulas not working. At first sight, they look like normal numbers, but Microsoft Excel perceives them as text strings and leaves out of calculations.

The visual indicators of text-numbers are as follows:

  • Numbers formatted as text are left-aligned by default, while normal numbers are right-aligned in cells.
  • The Number Format box on the Home tab in the Number group displays the Text format.
  • When several cells with text numbers are selected on the sheet, the Status Bar only shows Count, while usually it shows Average, Count and SUM for numbers.
  • There may be a leading apostrophe visible in the formula bar, or green triangles appear in the top-left corner of the cells.

The below screenshot shows that even a simple Excel SUM formula may not work because of numbers formatted as text:
Excel SUM formula not working because of numbers formatted as text values.

To fix this, select all problematic cells, click the warning sign, and then click Convert to Number:
Select cells with numbers formatted as text, click the warning sign, and then click Convert to Number.

In some cases, however, neither green triangles nor the warning sign appear in cells. For example, if you enclose numeric values in double quotes in your formulas, Excel assumes you want to output a text string rather than a number.

At first sight, the following formula appears to be working fine:
=IF(A1="Good", "1", "0")

But the problem is the returned 1's and 0's are text values, not numbers! And if you reference any cells with the above formula in other formulas, those cells won't be included in calculations. As soon as you remove "" surrounding 1 and 0 in the above formula, Excel will treat the outputs as numbers and they will be calculated correctly.

If the small green triangles do not appear in cells for some other reason, look at the Number Format box on the Home tab in the Number group. If it displays Text, try clearing all formatting for the problematic cells, and set the cells' format to Number or General. If that doesn't work, you might have to create a new column, manually input the data (e.g. copy your text-numbers to Notepad, and then back to a new column), and delete the broken column.

Another possible solution is to multiply the values in the problematic column by 1 using a simple formula like =A1*1. And then, copy the formula cells and paste them as values in the same or in any other column via Paste Special > Values.

7. Separate function arguments with a proper character

Most of us are used to separating function arguments with commas. However, this does not work for everyone's Excel. The character you use to separate arguments depends on the List Separator set in your Regional Settings.

Comma is the default list separator in North America and some other countries. In European countries, comma is used as the decimal symbol and the list separator is usually set to semicolon.

For example, in North America you would write =IF(A1>0, "OK", "Not OK"), while European users of Excel should put the same formula as =IF(A1>0; "OK"; "Not OK").

So, if your Excel formulas are not working because of "We found a problem with this formula..." error, go to your Regional Settings (Control Panel > Region and Language > Additional Settings) and check what character is set as List Separator there. And then, use exactly that character to separate arguments in your Excel formulas.

8. Enclose workbook and worksheet names in single quotes

When referring to other worksheets or workbooks that have spaces or non-alphabetical characters in their names, enclose the names in 'single quotation marks'. For example,

Reference to another sheet:
=SUM('Jan Sales'!B2:B10)

Reference to another workbook:
=SUM('[2015 Sales.xlsx]Jan sales'!B2:B10)

For more information, please see How to refer to another sheet or workbook in Excel.

9. Include the full path to a closed workbook

If you are writing a formula that references a closed Excel workbook, your external reference must include the workbook name and entire path to the workbook. For example:

=SUM('D:\Reports\[Sales.xlsx]Jan'!B2:B10)

For more information, please see Creating a reference to another workbook.

If the above tips do not help, try to evaluate and debug each part of your formula individually by using the F9 key and other debugging techniques explained in the following tutorial: How to evaluate and debug formulas in Excel.

Excel formulas not updating

Symptoms: The value returned by your Excel formula does not update automatically, i.e. the formula continues to show the old value even after you've changed the values of the dependent cells.

When Excel formulas are not updating automatically, most likely it's because the Calculation setting has been changed to Manual instead of Automatic. To fix this, just set the Calculation option to Automatic again.

On the Excel ribbon, go to the Formulas tab > Calculation group, click the Calculation Options button, and select Automatic:
For Excel formulas to update automatically, enable 'Automatic' under Calculation Options.

Alternatively, you can change this setting in Excel Options:

  • In Excel 2003, click Tools > Options > Calculation > Calculation > Automatic.
  • In Excel 2007, click Office button > Excel options > Formulas > Workbook Calculation > Automatic.
  • In Excel 2010, Excel 2013, and Excel 2016, go to File > Options > Formulas > Calculation options section, and select Automatic under Workbook Calculation.

Another way to turn on the Automatic Calculation setting.

How to force Excel formulas to recalculate

If for some reason, you need to have the Calculation option set to Manual, you can force the formulas to recalculate by clicking the Calculate button on the ribbon or by using one of the following shortcuts:

To recalculate the entire workbook:

  • Press F9, or
  • Click the Calculate Now button on the Formulas tab > Calculation group.

To recalculate an active sheet:

  • Press Shift + F9, or
  • Click Calculate Sheet on the Formulas tab > Calculation group.

Click the Calculate Sheet button to force the active sheet's formulas to recalculate.

To recalculate all sheets in all open workbooks, press Ctrl + Alt + F9.

If you need to recalculate only one formula on a sheet, select the formula cell, enter the editing mode either by pressing F2 or double clicking the cell, and then press the Enter key.

Excel formulas not calculating

Symptoms: A cell displays the formula, not the result.

If your Excel formula is not working because a cell displays the function instead of the calculated value, it's because one of the following reasons.

1. Show Formulas mode is turned on

The most common reason for an Excel formula not calculating is that you have inadvertently activated the Show Formulas mode in a worksheet.

To get the formula to display the calculated result, just turn off the Show Formulas mode by doing one of the following:

  • Pressing the Ctrl + ` shortcut, or
  • Clicking the Show Formulas button on the Formulas tab > Formula Auditing group.

To get Excel formulas to display the calculated results, turn off the Show Formulas mode.

2. A formula is entered as text

Another frequent reason for your Excel formula not calculating is that the formula has been formatted as text. To check this, select the formula cell, and look at the Number Format box in the Number group on the Home tab:
A formula formatted as text is not calculating.

If it is the case, change the cell format to General, and while in the cell press F2 and Enter for the formula to recalculate and display the calculated value.

3. A formula cell has a leading space or apostrophe before the equal sign

If you have inadvertently entered a space or apostrophe (') before the equal sign, Excel treats the cell contents as text, and consequently does not evaluate any formula within that cell (a leading space often appears when you copy a formula from the web). To fix this, just remove the leading space or single quote.
When a space or apostrophe precedes the equal sign, Excel treats the cell contents as text and does not evaluate the formula.

This is how you deal with formulas not working in Excel. If you know any other solutions to fix formulas not updating or not calculating, please do share in comments. I thank you for reading and hope to see you on our blog next week.

Table of contents

453 comments

  1. This helped alot! Thank you!

  2. So I just corrected my issue by reading one of your other articles.

    Thank you so much for making this available to us!!

  3. I have an issue with my formula not updating the refence cells when dragged down the column.
    The formula works fine with all calculations, however, when I drag it down it does not update the reference cells so I get the same result for the entire column.
    In order to get the correct result I have to manually update the formula in each cell.

    =IF([Book1.xlsx]Sheet1!$J$3=100%,"Ready",IF([Book1.xlsx]Sheet1!$J$3=0%,"Not Started","In Progress"))

    I tried using this same formula in a brand new workbook to discard formatting issues and I got the same result.

    Any advice?

      • I have the same issue but my cells do not have absolute values. When I drag whe formula down it does not update to the next line. This is the formula im using because i want to count differente cells that are not in a sequence and meet a criteria:

        =SUM(COUNTIF(INDIRECT({"C22","H22","M22","R22","W22","AB22","AG22","AL22"}),"x"))

        I have 146 lines, but when dragging down I need it to update to the following lines 23, 24 and so on.

  4. Bless you!
    Everytime I get frustrated with Excel, Ablebits has an array of solutions.
    thank you for making this resource available!!

  5. It's ok! I've worked it out. The data in the other excel document was not formatted to Number so I updated the format and all now works. Thank you anyway! :-)

  6. Hi, I have a simple SUM formula not working (gives 0.00 results) due to the other formulas in the cells that the Sum formula is adding up from. I know this because I experimented by removing the other formulas and just manually input some numbers and the SUM formula worked!
    But I want to keep the other formulas as they are getting data from another excel document eg
    Col D =VLOOKUP('[Reserves Leave Allowances_24.01.23.xlsx]Allowances'!A2,'[Reserves Leave Allowances_24.01.23.xlsx]Allowances'!$A:$I,9,FALSE) and similar formula in Col E (these formulae work fine).
    However, the SUM formula which is in Col I =SUM(D2:H2) is just resulting in 0.00
    All data is in number format.
    There isn't any data (at the moment) in Cols F-H.

    Surely other formulas should not be affecting further formulas especially a simple one like SUM?

    Any ideas please? Many thanks.

  7. I'm trying to get ANY formula to work currently.
    In cell E4 I enter a simple test: =CONCAT(CQ4;CQ5)
    In cells CQ4 and 5, I have "abc" and "xyz", of type General.
    On clicking enter for this formula, it just displays the formula.
    Ensuring Automatic calculation on cell E4 does not work.
    Forcing the calculation does not work.
    Manual Calculation does not work.

    Formulas do however work for cells in other columns.

    There is no Protection or locking on the E column.

    Other simple formulas like =sum(1;2), also do not work in the E column.

    Microsoft® Excel® for Microsoft 365 MSO (Version 2208 Build 16.0.15601.20446) 64-bit

    • Nevermind... I just needed to format the E column to General or similar to make the formulas work.

  8. Thank you so much

  9. Didn't work Automatic calculations in my worksheet.i just tried to all the methods of above mentioned but it not corrected.

    • Same situation with me here, but only 1 cell has a problem. Anybody to answer, please?

  10. I really appreciate you for this knowledge. You have really save my day

  11. tried plotting scatter plot. some times accepts all the values of the series and sometimes only 1

  12. I have formulas that work on one tab (year 2019) , and on the next years tab (2020) the formula works on 2 lines but the rest of the cells are coming back zero. All references seem to be correct since 2019 worked perfectly. They are all formatted as a number, and I can see the backup that the formula should be picking up. Any ideas on how to fix this? The formula is a SMIFS.

    • That kind of error can happen when you copy from one sheet to another. To correct it, ensure you paste it in similar row and column as the sheet you copied from

  13. is get.workbook function available in excel 2016?

  14. You are my savior!!!! Thanks a lot for the information! I have been suffering so many years because it was not calculating simple data, i had to click thousands of times the F2 button to put the numbers in the right format!

    • Sir, what did you do ?

  15. I have a list of employee data and I have cells that are dependent on others others, I used formulas to calculate values like date of retirement, years spent in service and so on. My problem is I want to use conditional formatting on rows that empkjee is either 59 years or above or has spent 34 or more years in service. When I used =$H2>=59 I got the desired result,but $O2>=34,the whole sheet gets formatted. I tried combining the 2 conditions using =OR( $O2>=34,=$H2>=59) it still didn't work

  16. A list of numbers all derived from formulae (e.g. IMPRODUCT(B3,C3) will not sum. They are not text. The only numbers included in the calculation are those not derived from a formula. What is going on?

  17. Following up on your reply to my question, cells F2 and E2 do not have any formula or circular reference, they are cells with value entered.
    e.g E2 has value 122,549,069 and F2 has value 122,548,865 and formula in 'G2' column is =F2-E2. This formula is not getting refreshed automatically, we need to open the excel and click inside cell 'G2' to see the formula being applied

  18. Hi,
    I have a excel sheet which has a formula in one column say 'G' column, the formula(F2-E2) in the 'G' column is to substract values from two other columns. But the formula is not getting automatically applied on opening the excel, we need to click inside the 'G" column after that the formula gets applied.
    I tried changing format of the column 'G' to 'Number' and also tried Calculation option to 'Automatic', still its not working.
    Please suggest any other solution which can work

  19. A clarification on my previous comment. I create the formulas through a macro, using the RefersToR1C1:= option.

    I build the formula by putting code like this in a loop.
    YTDPointsVar = YTDPointsVar & "RC" & Range("Points" & TheWeek).Column & ","

    Then I build the formula with this code:
    ActiveSheet.Cells(TeamRow(TheTeam), Range("YTD_Points").Column).Formula = "=sum(" & YTDPointsVar & ")"

    I don't have the R1C1 reference style selected in File, Options, Formulas. In the past the above code would automatically convert to this style;
    =SUM($I2,$Q2,$Y2,$AG2,$AO2,$AW2,$BE2,$BM2,$BU2,$CC2,$CK2,$CS2,$DA2,$DI2,$DQ2,$DY2,$EG2,$EO2,$EW2,$FE2,$FM2,$FU2,$GC2,$GK2,$GS2,$HA2,$HI2,$HQ2,) and it would calculate properly. Now, using the same code, not in compatibility mode, it displays in the RC format and no longer calculates the formula.

  20. I have used formulas of the following style in a workbook since 1994: =max(rc13,rc21,rc29)

    These have always worked. I have been saving in compatibility mode until a week ago. I saved the workbook as a .xlsm file instead of a .xls file and no longer use compatibility mode. Now the formulas don't calculate. I have automatic calculate on and have selected F9, etc. When I select the "R1C1 reference style" option under "File, Options, Formulas" the formulas automatically change to something like this: R[-112]C[463],R[-104]C[463],R[-96]C463]).

    In my previous versions of the workbook I did not have "R1C1 reference style" selected and the formulas still updated properly. I'm running Excel 2013 on Windows 10.

    Thanks in advance for your help.

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