Microsoft Excel makes it easier to check formulas

Kevin Okemwa

Excel

Microsoft has announced the incorporation of new tooltips in Excel designed to help users check their formulas directly in the formula bar or in the cell they are editing. Here’s everything you need to know about this neat feature:

Once you select part of the formula, Excel will in turn show you a tooltip that features the current value of the section you are on. Here’s an illustration of how the feature works:

Animation of the Value Preview feature

Microsoft further indicated:

A common trick to get the current value of part of a formula is to select that part, then press F9. Doing so replaces the selected part of the formula with its current value. So, you would likely only do this to check the value, and then you press ESC to avoid keeping it as a hard-coded value in your formula.

Alternatively, you can make use of the Evaluate Formula dialog which will also let you see the current value of each part of your formula. If you are part of the Beta channel and running on Windows Version 2302 (Build 16116.20000) or later or Mac Version 16. 70 (Build 230116) or later you should be able to access this feature.

In related news, Excel also got a nifty feature that lets users record repetitive spreadsheet tasks earlier this month dubbed Action Recorder. Share your thoughts with us in the comment section.