{"id":2617,"date":"2014-02-03T18:08:34","date_gmt":"2014-02-03T12:38:34","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/trumpexcel.com\/?p=2617"},"modified":"2025-05-20T13:03:32","modified_gmt":"2025-05-20T07:33:32","slug":"excel-formula-debugging","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/trumpexcel.com\/excel-formula-debugging\/","title":{"rendered":"Identify Errors Using Excel Formula Debugging (2 Methods)"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Imagine you have created a super long formula in Excel. While you are proud of yourself, there is a minor glitch. It is returning an error or an unexpected value.<\/p>\n<p>Now you have two options:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Either\u00a0recreate it again or go through it manually one step at a time, OR<\/li>\n<li>Use the 2 formula debugging techniques I am about to share. Keep reading!<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2>Excel Formula Debugging Method #1 &#8211; F9 Key<\/h2>\n<p>Here is how this works:<\/p>\n<ol>\n<li>Go to the cell which has the formula<\/li>\n<li>Enter into an edit mode (press F2)<\/li>\n<li>Select the entire formula and press F9 &#8211; This will give you the result of the entire formula\n<ul>\n<li>You can also select a sub-part of the formula and use this same technique<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<p>For example, suppose you have the text <em>TrumpExcel<\/em> in Cell A1, and in cell A3 you have the following formula:<\/p>\n<pre class=\"background-box\"><span style=\"color: #0000ff;\">=IF(A1=\"Trumpexcel\",\"Right\",\"Wrong\")<\/span><\/pre>\n<p><img fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter wp-image-2662 size-full\" src=\"https:\/\/trumpexcel.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/01\/Debugging-Formula-Excel.png\" alt=\"Excel Formula Debugging Method 1\" width=\"1281\" height=\"239\" srcset=\"https:\/\/trumpexcel.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/01\/Debugging-Formula-Excel.png 1281w, https:\/\/trumpexcel.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/01\/Debugging-Formula-Excel-600x111.png 600w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1281px) 100vw, 1281px\" \/><\/p>\n<h5><\/h5>\n<pre>Also read: <a href=\"https:\/\/trumpexcel.com\/excel-formulas-not-working\/\">Formulas Not Working In Excel<\/a><\/pre>\n<h2>Excel Formula Debugging Method #2 &#8211; Evaluate Formula Step by Step<\/h2>\n<ol>\n<li>Suppose you have the same formula as above in cell C1<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<pre class=\"background-box\"><span style=\"color: #0000ff;\">=IF(A1=\"Trumpexcel\",\"Right\",\"Wrong\")<\/span><\/pre>\n<ol>\n<li value=\"2\">Select the cell that has the formula (C1 in this case)<\/li>\n<li>Click on Formula Tab<\/li>\n<li>Click on Evaluate Formula (<em>Keyboard Shortcut &#8211; Alt + TUF<\/em>). This will open the Evaluate Formula Dialogue Box<\/li>\n<li>Press Evaluate One by One to sift through the steps and their results<br \/>\n<img decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter wp-image-2665\" src=\"https:\/\/trumpexcel.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/01\/Evaluate-Formula-Excel-Dialogue-Box.png\" alt=\"Excel Formula Debugging - Evaluate dialogue box\" width=\"658\" height=\"267\" srcset=\"https:\/\/trumpexcel.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/01\/Evaluate-Formula-Excel-Dialogue-Box.png 1175w, https:\/\/trumpexcel.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/01\/Evaluate-Formula-Excel-Dialogue-Box-600x243.png 600w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 658px) 100vw, 658px\" \/><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<p><strong>Other Excel tutorials you may find useful:<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/trumpexcel.com\/ref-error-in-excel\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">!REF# Error in Excel &#8211; How to Fix the Reference Error!<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/trumpexcel.com\/iferror-vlookup\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Use IFERROR with VLOOKUP to Get Rid of #N\/A Errors<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/trumpexcel.com\/excel-iferror-function\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Excel IFERROR Function<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/trumpexcel.com\/name-error-excel\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" data-schema-attribute=\"\">#NAME Error in Excel &#8211; What Causes it and How to Fix it!<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/trumpexcel.com\/excel-showing-formula-instead-of-result\/\">Excel Showing Formula Instead of Result<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/trumpexcel.com\/ad-comments-within-excel-formulas\/\">Add Comments Within Excel Formulas<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Imagine you have created a super long formula in Excel. While you are proud of yourself, there is a minor glitch. It is returning an error or an unexpected value. Now you have two options: Either\u00a0recreate it again or go through it manually one step at a time, OR Use the 2 formula debugging techniques &#8230; <\/p>\n<p class=\"read-more-container\"><a title=\"Identify Errors Using Excel Formula Debugging (2 Methods)\" class=\"read-more button\" href=\"https:\/\/trumpexcel.com\/excel-formula-debugging\/#more-2617\" aria-label=\"Read more about Identify Errors Using Excel Formula Debugging (2 Methods)\">Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":80,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7,4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2617","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-excel-tips","category-formula-hacks"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/trumpexcel.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2617","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/trumpexcel.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/trumpexcel.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/trumpexcel.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/80"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/trumpexcel.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2617"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/trumpexcel.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2617\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":44752,"href":"https:\/\/trumpexcel.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2617\/revisions\/44752"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/trumpexcel.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2617"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/trumpexcel.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2617"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/trumpexcel.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2617"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}