By default, the formula bar is visible in Excel to allow you to see and enter formulas in the active cell. However, you may want to hide the formula bar either to limit user interaction with it, or to give your Excel workbook a compact look and feel. Alternatively, you may want to show it instead, if the bar is missing. In this guide, we’re going to show you how to make Excel show formula bar or hide it.
You have 3 options to do this: using the Excel Ribbon, Excel Options, or VBA. Let’s see the steps for each method.
Hide or unhide formula bar using the Excel Ribbon
This option can be found directly on the Ribbon. When you have an active Excel workbook, follow the steps below.
- Activate the View tab in the Ribbon
- Uncheck or check the Formula Bar option in the Show section
Hide or unhide formula bar using the Excel Options
You can find the corresponding preferences for the Excel Options options in the corresponding dialog window. Follow the steps below to open this dialog and access the options.
- Click on the File tab if you are using Excel 2010 or higher version. Or, click the Office button in Excel 2007.
- Click Options to activate the Excel Options
- In the Excel Options dialog, activate the Advanced option.
- Scroll down to Display
- Check or uncheck the Show Formula bar option depending on your preferences.
- Click the OK button to apply your changes.
Hide or show formula bar using VBA
With simple a VBA code, you can hide or show the formula bar with a single click. Another common scenario is to hide (or unhide) formula bar automatically to force the workbook to keep that layout.
This property is under the Application object. Once you hide the formula bar, it will become hidden for all workbooks. You need to set these properties to False to hide them. Set them True to unhide them instead.
Application.DisplayFormulaBar = False ‘hides formula bar Application.DisplayFormulaBar = True ‘unhides formula bar
