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How to show cell reference (as text) instead of value and vice versa in Excel?

Author Kelly Last modified

Normally formula cells display calculated results in Excel, and it’s boring to click each cell to view its cell reference. Here I will share three methods to show all cell references instead of values and vice versa in current worksheet, and to show specified cell references as text instead of values and vice versa.


Show all cell reference instead of value and vice versa with Show Formula feature

We can quickly show all cell references instead of calculated results of formulas with clicking Formulas > Show Formulas. See screenshot below:

click Formulas > Show Formulas

If you need to show all calculated results again in cells, please click the Show Formulas button again.


Show cell reference as text instead of value and vice versa in the specified range

On the other hand, some users may want to show specified cell reference as text instead of values, but not all cell references of all formula cells. Here I recommend you to try Kutools for Excel’s Convert Formula to Text utility and Convert Text to Formula utility.

Kutools for Excel offers over 300 advanced features to streamline complex tasks, boosting creativity and efficiency. Itegarate with AI capabilities, Kutools automates tasks with precision, making data management effortless. Detailed information of Kutools for Excel...         Free trial...

Select the formula cells in which you want to display cell references as text instead of calculated results, and click Kutools > Content > Convert Formula to Text.
apply Convert Formula to Text feature to Show cell reference as text instead of value

Note: In contrast, for showing calculated results instead of formulas, please select these formulas and click Kutools > Content > Convert Text to Formula. See screenshot above.

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Show all cell reference instead of value and vice versa in all sheets

As we know, the Formulas > Show Formulas can only show/hide formulas in the active sheet. For show or hide all cell reference instead of values or vice versa in all worksheets, please try Kutools for Excel's View Options feature.

Kutools for Excel offers over 300 advanced features to streamline complex tasks, boosting creativity and efficiency. Itegarate with AI capabilities, Kutools automates tasks with precision, making data management effortless. Detailed information of Kutools for Excel...         Free trial...

1. Click the Kutools > Show / Hide > View Options. See screenshot below:
click View Options feature of kutools

2. In the opening View Options dialog box, please check the Formulas option, and then click the Apply to all sheets button and Ok button successively. See screenshot below:
check the Formulas option

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Demo: show cell reference (as text) instead of value and vice versa in Excel

 

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