How to automatically insert equal sign in cells with numbers in Excel?
As the left screenshot shown, you want to use formulas but forgot adding equal sign in front of numbers. And now you want to activate these formulas and get the calculation result in column without manually typing equal sign to each cell, what would you do to achieve it? This article will show you two methods to automatically insert equal sign in cells to activate formulas in Excel.
Auto insert equal sign in cells with formula
You can do as follows to insert equal sign in cells automatically with formula.
1. Select a blank cell (such as B1) for locating the result, enter formula ="="&A1 into the formula bar, and press the Enter key. See screenshot:
2. Keep selecting cell B1, drag the fill handle to the cells you want to add equal signs to.
3. Select the column with equal signs, and hold Ctrl + C to copy them, then click Home > Paste > Values. See screenshot:
4. Press Ctrl + F keys simultaneously to open the Find and Replace dialog box. In the dialog box, click the Replace tab, and enter the equal sign separately into the Find what and Replace with boxes, then click the Replace All button. See screenshot:
5. Then a Microsoft Excel dialog box pops up, please click the OK button. And you can see the formulas are activated.
Auto insert equal sign in cells with Kutools for Excel
The above method is multi-step and time-consuming. Here we introduce you the Add Text utility of Kutools for Excel. With this utility, you can add equal sign to all selected cells at the same time easily.
Before applying Kutools for Excel, please download and install it firstly.
1. Select the range with cells you want to add equal signs. And then click Kutools > Text > Add Text.
2. In the Add Text dialog box, enter an equal sign into the Text box, select Before first character option in the Position section, and finally click the OK button. See screenshot:
Then equal signs are inserted into selected cells immediately, and the formulas are activated.
If you want to have a free trial (30-day) of this utility, please click to download it, and then go to apply the operation according above steps.
Auto insert equal sign in cells with Kutools for Excel
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