# Why is my formula showing as text instead of the result?

The cell was formatted as Text, or the formula starts with a space or apostrophe. Set the cell to General and re-enter =B2*C2.

**Excel:** `=B2*C2` (Every current version)

**Google Sheets:** the same formula works.

## Example

Sample data (row 1 is the header):

| A | B | C | D |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Item | Qty | Price | Total |
| Pens | 12 | 1.25 |  |
| Paper | 5 | 7.49 |  |
| Toner | 2 | 64.9 |  |
| Folders | 30 | 0.45 |  |
| Labels | 4 | 8.99 |  |

Formula in D2, filled to D6: `=B2*C2`

Result: $15.00; $37.45; $129.80; $13.50; $35.96

## How it works

A formula shows as text when the cell never treats it as a formula: the cell was formatted as Text before you typed it, the entry starts with a space or an apostrophe, or Show Formulas is turned on. Typed into a General cell, starting with =, the same `=B2*C2` calculates 15.

## Other ways

- `=PRODUCT(B2:C2)`: The same multiplication written as a function.

## Common mistakes

- Changing the format from Text to General isn't enough by itself. Re-enter the formula: click in the cell and press Enter.
- A space or apostrophe before the = makes the whole entry text. Delete it.
- If every formula on the sheet shows as text, Show Formulas is on. Press Ctrl+` (the key left of 1) or turn it off on the Formulas tab.

## Questions

**How do I fix a whole column of text formulas at once?**

Set the column to General, then use Find and Replace (Ctrl+H) to replace = with = in that column, which re-enters every cell.

**Why does my formula show 0 instead of the result?**

That is a different problem: the formula runs, but it refers to empty cells or to numbers stored as text.

Every formula and result on this page was checked by running it in the Spreadsheet Practice formula engine on 2026-10-30.

Source: https://spreadsheetpractice.com/formulas/formula-showing-as-text