Check your formula with value preview tooltips in Excel

(Originally posted January 25, 2023 By ~ Steve Kraynak)

Hi, Microsoft 365 Insiders! I’m Steve Kraynak, a product manager on the Excel team. I’m excited to share that we’ve added tooltips to help you see formulas right in the formula bar or in the cell you’re editing. Simply select part of a formula, and Excel will display a tooltip with the current value of the highlighted portion.

Tips for Previewing Values ​​in Excel

A common trick for getting the current value for a part of a formula is to select that part and then press F9. This will change the selected part of the formula to the current value. So you would do this just to see the value and then press ESC to make sure it doesn’t hardcode into the formula.

Another approach is to use: Official evaluation The dialog box lets you see the current values ​​for each part of the formula. If you want to focus on just one part of the formula, I find tooltips to be easier to use and less overwhelming.

How it works

In any formula, you can simply select the part you want to evaluate. For example, in a tooltip showing the function syntax, click on one of the function parameters to select it, and then check the tooltip that appears to show the current value of that parameter.

Value preview feature

Note:

Scenarios to try

• In any formula that includes a range or table reference, make sure that when you select a reference, a tooltip displays the value or values ​​of the referenced cell.
• When you edit a formula with one or more functions, place your cursor inside the parentheses of the function and a syntax tooltip will appear. Then, click on one of the parameter names in the syntax to select that part of the formula.

Tips and Tricks

• If you select a part of a formula that cannot be evaluated, the tooltip will not be displayed. For example, if you select only part of a reference or only part of a parameter, the tooltip will not be displayed.
• You can see tooltips for parts of a formula that are not calculated as part of a cell value. For example, if your formula is: =101+201You can choose 1+20 And a tooltip will appear. 21Even though that part is irrelevant when calculating the overall formula.
• You can move a tooltip if it obscures important information or you want to place it somewhere else.

effectiveness

This feature is rolling out to Beta channel users running:

• Windows: Version 2302 (Build 16116.20000) or later
• Scotsman: Version 16.70 (Build 230116) or later

Features are released over time to ensure everything works smoothly. They are released slowly to a larger number of Insiders, highlighting features you may not have. Sometimes we remove elements based on your feedback to make them even better. This is rare, but we also have the option to completely remove a feature from the product, even if you, as an Insider, had the opportunity to try it out.

feedback

Share your feedback and click to help us prioritize our work as you use new keyboard shortcuts in Excel.help>feedbackPlease let us know what you think.

Have an idea for how to make Excel better? Let us know. Excel Forum on Microsoft Feedback You can submit an idea or vote on another idea. You can also click the Feedback button in Excel and choose:I have a suggestionbutton.

Learn about Microsoft 365 Insider Program And join us Microsoft 365 Insider Newsletter Get the latest Insider features straight to your inbox once a month!