Excel formula bar missing: how to show it again

1. Turn the formula bar on

The formula bar is the long box above the column headings, with the Name Box on its left. It's a setting for the Excel app, not a single sheet, so if it's gone it's gone for every workbook you open.

1. Click the View tab.
2. In the Show group, tick Formula Bar.
3. Or go to File > Options > Advanced, scroll to Display, and tick Show formula bar.

2. The ribbon has gone as well

If there's no ribbon, no formula bar and no status bar, Excel is in full screen mode. Press Ctrl+Shift+F1 to toggle it off. If only the ribbon tabs show, the ribbon is collapsed; press Ctrl+F1, then tick Formula Bar on the View tab. Excel ribbon missing covers every ribbon display option.

On Excel for Mac, the same setting is View > Formula Bar in the menu bar at the top of the screen.

3. Only one line of a long formula shows

A long formula can look cut off because the formula bar is collapsed to a single line. Press Ctrl+Shift+U to expand it, or click the small arrow at the right end of the bar. Press Ctrl+Shift+U again to collapse it.

To make the bar taller than the default expanded size, point at its bottom edge until the cursor becomes a double arrow and drag down. Inside the bar, Alt+Enter starts a new line, which makes a long nested formula much easier to read. The same goes the other way: a formula bar that suddenly takes up half the screen has just been expanded or dragged, so collapse it with Ctrl+Shift+U.

4. The formula bar is empty for a cell with a value

This one looks like a bug but it's deliberate. When a cell's format has Hidden ticked on the Protection tab and the sheet is protected, Excel shows the result in the cell and nothing in the formula bar. People do it to stop others seeing or copying their formulas.

1. Go to Review > Unprotect Sheet. If it asks for a password, you need it from whoever protected the sheet.
2. Select the cells, press Ctrl+1, open the Protection tab and untick Hidden if you want the formulas visible even after you protect the sheet again.
3. To hide formulas on purpose, do the reverse: tick Hidden (and Locked), then Review > Protect Sheet. Our guide to locking cells with formulas walks through it.

5. The bar shows a number instead of a formula

If the formula bar shows 1,250 where you expected =SUM(...), the formula was replaced by its value, usually by Paste Special > Values or a paste from another app. Press Ctrl+Z if it just happened; otherwise, rebuild the formula or get it from an earlier version (File > Info > Version History for files in OneDrive or SharePoint).

The opposite problem, a formula showing as text in the cell instead of a result, has its own fixes in Excel formula showing as text. And to see every formula at once without clicking each cell, press Ctrl+` (the key above Tab) to toggle Show Formulas.