Excel formula displays formula rather than result

I am copying and pasting a formula in excel and instead of showing the value it is just displaying the formula. (the formula is ='G:\Corporate[NewOrder.xls]Sheet1'!Q21 ). Is there some setting that I need to change? I have tried the f9 key but it does not recalculate. It seems like sometimes when I past the formula it will work until I place the cursor within the formula and then it is broken again.

Solution 1:

Edit your formula and be sure there isn't a ' before the = sign.

The cell may have been formatted as text before the formula was entered. Select the cell, then right-click and select Format Cells. Format the cell as General (on the Number tab), then click OK. Press F2, then Enter.

Another possibility is that you have accidentally toggled the view to display formulas rather than their results. Pressing Ctrl + ` (backtick, found next to the left of the number 1 on US keyboards) to toggle the view back to normal

Solution 2:

I had the same issue on only some cells. The formula referred to another sheet that had a number. The solution for me was to format the destination cell as a number. In my case I needed to format for no decimal places. Hope this helps.