Excel formulas not calculating or updating: how to fix it

Applies to: Excel for Microsoft 365 and Excel 2016, 2019, 2021 and 2024 on Windows. Menu names are the same on most of these versions; Excel for Mac and Excel for the web put a few options in different places. The steps are based on Microsoft’s article on how to change formula recalculation, iteration, or precision, plus the related pages linked in each section.

Match your symptom

“Not calculating” covers a few different problems. The cell tells you which one you have, so start by looking at it closely.

What you see	Likely cause	Start with
You change a number, but totals stay the same until you press F9 or save	Manual calculation mode	Fix 1
Results update in some cells but look out of date in others	Calculation chain needs a full rebuild	Fix 2
Every formula on the sheet shows as text, columns look wider	Show Formulas is on	Fix 3
One cell shows its formula, such as =A1+B1, instead of a result	Cell formatted as Text, or text before the =	Fix 4
SUM returns 0 or a total that is too low; cells have a green triangle	Numbers stored as text	Fix 5
A warning about circular references, or a result of 0 that should not be 0	Circular reference	Fix 6

1. Switch calculation back to Automatic

By default Excel recalculates every dependent formula as soon as you change a value, a formula or a name. In manual mode it waits until you ask. Nothing on the sheet warns you about this, so the workbook simply looks as if it has stopped working.

1. Open the Formulas tab.
2. In the Calculation group, select Calculation Options.
3. Choose Automatic. Excel recalculates straight away.

The same setting is under File > Options > Formulas, in the Workbook Calculation area of Calculation options. That page also has Recalculate workbook before saving, which Excel ticks for you in manual mode. This explains a common puzzle: totals catch up every time you save, then fall behind again.

Why it keeps going back to Manual

While Excel is running, calculation mode is not a per-workbook setting. Microsoft’s troubleshooting note on how Excel determines the current mode of calculation says all open workbooks share one mode, and the first workbook you open in a session sets it. So if a colleague sends you a file saved in manual mode and you open it first, every workbook you open afterwards also runs in manual mode. Changing the mode in any open workbook changes it for all of them.

Saving makes it stick. The mode that is active when you save is the one stored in the file, so a workbook can end up saved in manual mode even though you never chose it. To clear it, set Automatic, save the workbook, and ask whoever sent it to do the same with their copy. A macro can also change the setting while it runs; if a particular macro workbook keeps switching you to manual, ask its author to check that the macro sets calculation back to automatic when it finishes or fails.

There are good reasons to use manual mode on purpose. Very large models can take a long time to recalculate after every edit, and our guide to fixing a heavy workbook that makes Excel hang suggests it as a test. If you keep it, get into the habit of pressing F9 before you read any totals.

2. Force a recalculation

In manual mode, or when you suspect some results are stale, you can tell Excel to calculate. Microsoft lists four levels, from quick to thorough:

Keys	What Excel recalculates
F9	Formulas that changed, and the formulas that depend on them, in all open workbooks. Same as Calculate Now on the Formulas tab.
Shift + F9	The same, but only on the active worksheet. Same as Calculate Sheet.
Ctrl + Alt + F9	Every formula in all open workbooks, whether or not Excel thinks it changed.
Ctrl + Shift + Alt + F9	Rechecks which formulas depend on which cells, then recalculates every formula in all open workbooks.

Use F9 for everyday work. If some cells still look wrong after that, Ctrl + Alt + F9 is worth a try, because it doesn’t rely on Excel’s record of what has changed. The last shortcut is the slowest and is mainly useful in large workbooks where formulas were moved or rebuilt. None of these shortcuts helps with Fixes 3 to 6, because in those cases Excel is calculating; it is just not getting the input it expects.

On a laptop, the F keys may control brightness or volume. If F9 does nothing, hold Fn as well, or use the buttons on the Formulas tab.

3. Turn off Show Formulas

If every formula on a sheet appears as text and the columns have widened, Show Formulas is on. It is a viewing option for checking your work, and it is easy to switch on by accident with a keyboard shortcut.

• Select the Formulas tab and click Show Formulas so it is no longer highlighted, or
• press Ctrl + `. The ` key (grave accent) is usually to the left of 1 on US keyboards.

Microsoft’s page on how to display or hide formulas describes both methods as a toggle, so pressing the shortcut again brings the formulas back. On other keyboard layouts the grave accent may sit somewhere else, so the ribbon button is the safer route.

4. Fix a formula typed into a Text cell

When only one cell, or one column, shows its formula instead of the result, the cell is probably formatted as Text. Excel stores whatever you type into a Text cell as plain text, including an equals sign and a function name, so it never evaluates it. This often happens in columns that were set to Text for codes or IDs, or when a cell that refers to a Text cell picks up the same format.

1. Select the cell or column.
2. On the Home tab, open the number format list in the Number group and choose General.
3. Click in the cell, press F2 and then Enter. Changing the format alone doesn’t convert the existing text; re-entering it does.
4. For a whole column, fix the first cell, then copy it down with the fill handle.

If the format is already General and the formula still shows, look at what is in front of the equals sign. A leading apostrophe or a space makes Excel treat the entry as text, and so does a formula pasted in with quotation marks around it. Delete those characters so the cell starts with =.

5. Convert numbers stored as text

Sometimes the formula is fine and the data is the problem. Numbers that came from a CSV export, a web page, an accounting system or a scanned table are often imported as text. A SUM skips them, so the total is too low or 0, and lookups fail to match. Microsoft gives two signs: text numbers are left-aligned instead of right-aligned, and the cell may show a small green triangle in its top-left corner.

Microsoft’s page on how to fix text-formatted numbers gives several ways to convert them. Try them in this order:

• Convert to Number: select the cells with the green triangle, click the warning button that appears beside the selection, and choose Convert to Number. This is the quickest fix for a single column.
• Multiply by 1: type 1 in an empty cell formatted as General and copy it. Select the text numbers, open Home > Paste > Paste Special, choose Multiply under Operation and click OK. Then delete the helper cell. This works on ranges where the warning button doesn’t appear. Our Paste Special tips cover the other options in that dialog.
• Apply a number format: select the cells and pick a number format from the Number group. Microsoft notes this works only when the cells contain no extra spaces or nonprinting characters, which are common in exported data. Clean them first with TRIM or CLEAN in a helper column.

Text that ends in a minus sign, such as 156-, needs a formula: Microsoft’s example is =LEFT(A2,LEN(A2)-1)*-1, which returns -156. If your numbers came from a photo or a PDF table, check them before you trust any total; our guide to converting a picture to an Excel table lists the characters that are most often misread.

If you see green triangles on purpose, for example on product codes with leading zeros, you can hide them under File > Options > Formulas by clearing Numbers formatted as text or preceded by an apostrophe in Error checking rules. That hides the warning for every workbook, so you also lose it where it would help.

6. Find and remove circular references

A circular reference is a formula that depends on its own result, directly or through other cells. Examples are =A1+A2 in cell A1, or =SUM(A3:F3) in cell F3, where the range includes the formula cell. Excel can’t finish that calculation, so it warns you the first time and then shows 0 or the last value it calculated. Later circular references in the same session may not show the warning at all, which is why they are easy to miss.

1. Look at the status bar at the bottom of the window. It shows Circular References followed by a cell address. If it shows no address, the loop is on another worksheet.
2. Go to Formulas > Error Checking, select the arrow next to it and point to Circular References. Excel lists the cells involved.
3. Select a cell in the list and fix its formula so it no longer points back to itself, for example by moving a total out of the range it adds up.
4. If the loop runs through several cells, use Trace Precedents and Trace Dependents on the Formulas tab to follow the arrows.
5. Repeat until the status bar no longer mentions circular references.

Microsoft’s page on how to remove or allow a circular reference also explains iterative calculation, which lets a circular formula run a set number of times. You turn it on under File > Options > Formulas with Enable iterative calculation; the defaults are 100 iterations and a maximum change of 0.001. Leave it off unless a model is built to work that way, such as some interest or commission calculations. With it on, Excel stops warning you about circular references, so an accidental one can quietly produce wrong numbers.

Other settings that change results

• Automatic except for data tables: this option on the Calculation Options menu recalculates everything except What-If data tables. If only a data table looks stale, switch to Automatic or press F9.
• Set precision as displayed: under File > Options > Advanced, in the When calculating this workbook section. It makes Excel calculate with the rounded values you see instead of the full values. Microsoft warns that turning it on permanently changes the stored data, and turning it off later doesn’t bring the original values back. Don’t use it to fix rounding differences; use the ROUND function instead.
• Links to other workbooks: a formula that refers to a closed workbook uses the values saved in that file. If the source was saved without being recalculated, Excel may warn you when you update the link, and the result can be out of date until the source is opened and recalculated.
• Read-only copies: if you opened a shared workbook read-only, your edits still calculate, but they can’t be saved to the original file. See our guide on the locked for editing message if that is why a file won’t keep your changes.

Known issues

As of November 2026, Microsoft’s fixes and workarounds page for Excel for Windows (last updated September 2026) lists no current issue about formulas not calculating or not updating. Its closest entry, about Excel 365 slowing down or not responding when switching between worksheets, is marked fixed. If calculation problems started right after an Office update, check that page again, then update Excel under File > Account > Update Options > Update Now.

Related guides

• Excel not responding: how to fix freezes and hangs
• Excel tips and tricks: 10 ways to work faster in Excel
• How to convert a picture to an Excel table
• Excel file is locked for editing by another user: how to fix it
• #SPILL! error in Excel: what it means and how to fix it

Official sources

• Microsoft: Change formula recalculation, iteration, or precision in Excel
• Microsoft: Remove or allow a circular reference in Excel
• Microsoft: Fix text-formatted numbers by applying a number format