Show or Hide Formulas in Google Sheets

In Google Sheets, you can show formulas with these simple tips

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Updated on July 7, 2020

Make Google Sheets Show Formulas

In large worksheets, finding the cells that contain formulas or functions can be difficult. Learn multiple ways to show formulas in Google Sheets to find the method that best suits your purposes.

How to Show Formulas in Google Sheets Using Shortcut Keys

Remove the guesswork when you need to show formulas in Google Sheets by using a simple shortcut key combination to show all formulas in Google Sheets: Ctrl+` (grave accent).

On most standard keyboards, the grave accent key is located to the left of the number 1 key. It looks like a backward apostrophe.

This key combination works as a toggle in Google Sheets, which means you press the same key combination again to hide the formulas when you finish viewing them. The worksheet will display all formulas in the cells that contain them, rather than the formula results.

How to Hide All Formulas in a Sheet

To show the results again for those cells, press the Ctrl+` combination once more.

When you show formulas on your Google sheet, it doesn't change the worksheet contents, only the way they are displayed. Then it's easier to find cells containing formulas. It also allows you to quickly read through the formulas to check for errors.

How to Show Formulas Using the Menu

In addition to the shortcut key above, you can also enable or disable displaying cell formulas in the entire sheet by using the Google Sheets menu by selecting Show Formulas under the View menu.

The Show Formulas command under the View menu

How to Show Individual Cell Formulas

Rather than viewing all the formulas in the entire spreadsheet, you can view formulas one at a time in Google Sheets with one of the following two techniques.

Double-click the cell containing the formula.
Select the cell containing the formula and then press the F9 key on the keyboard to pop up a comment showing the current formula result.

Both of these actions give you insight into the current results of a formula you're entering. Double-clicking the cell also highlights the source cells so you can see all data in your spreadsheet that affects the formula results.

The F9 key lets you see results without switching out of cell edit mode.

While entering formulas into cells in Google Sheets, you can also press the F1 key to see an expanded view of formula help so you can better understand how a particular formula works.

How to Hide Formulas in Google Sheets Using Protected Sheets and Ranges

Another option for hiding formulas in Google Sheets is to use worksheet protection, which prevents other users from editing formulas in locked cells.

The following steps will let you protect an entire range of cells so that no one can edit the formulas they contain.

Select the range of cells containing the formulas you want to hide.
Select Protected sheets and ranges under the Data menu.
In the pop-up window, select Set Permissions.
In the dialog box, choose Restrict who can edit this range.
Remove any users who you don't want editing cell formulas. This process works for protecting either individual cells, a range of cells, or the entire sheet.