Help: Excel Formulas NOT udpating and NO it has NOTHING to do with automatic option or circular references, ETC. !!

[Donavan Casson]

OK, I am absolutely fit to be tied! I am a Microsoft 365 User and have an issue where certain formulas are not updating unless I go directly into the cell and hit enter. And NO, this has NOTHING to do with automatic option or circular references, or the format of the cell, etc. etc. and all of the other what seems like thousands of possibilities posted out there on the internet. I am completely fed up of reading article after article suggesting the same things over and over that have ZERO to do with my issue. Please advise and help. Thank You.

 

[Donavan Casson]

I was teasing re: circular referencing - that's how I tend to react to messages in ALL CAPS.
Two things:

(1) It is easy enough to see whether or not a sheet is engaged in circular referencing. As I'm sure you've already discovered from you research, Exel will inform the user if there is any in the workbook. In case anyone else reading this post needs to know, this can be found out by clicking the "Formulas" tab and then clicking on "Error Checking" in the 'Formula Auditing' group.

(2) Rethinking your original post and now (pretty much supported by your last message), it may be the case that it's not that particular file that's causing the problem, but another. It is entirely possible that one of the add-ins is causing the problem.

If one of the addins (or any other macro-enabled file you loaded) turns off the screen-updating property (or here, likely changes the calculation method) and does not later revert to the default setting, this will affect every other spreadsheet. It may be the case that the add-in/macro intended to revert to the default setting, but this was interrupted by an error and execution of the code was also interrupted, thus causing the problem.

In any event, Excel will revert to default when you restart it. If the problem persists (as it appears to be in your case) and the add-ins are loaded, then yes - it is more than likely that cause of the Add-ins. I suspect that by now you've tried to disable/uninstall the add-ins? How did it go?

I would make two more observations - if you have tried coding a macro in the past, then the code may have been saved in your Personal Workbook. Also, for the benefit of anyone else, it is worth noting that although macro-enabled workbooks are (these days) indentifiable by the extension -> XLSM, XLTM, XLAM (though XLAM is not technically a workbook) - it's important to remember that XLS files can also contain macros (as can XLA, obviously).

Got it, thanks. So far, so good with those two add-ins disabled. We'll see...if I encounter the problem again then I think I will proceed with a uninstall / re-install. Those add-in's by the way were used in conjuction with a third party software that allowed for push of certain spreadsheet data directly into the other software platform.

 

[Dan_W]

Well, I'm glad that it is (fingers-crossed) working out for you.

That sort of thing shouldn't with Excel in it's default ('clean') state. In order for it to get to that point, something needs to have happened between it starting up in it's clean state, and you enountering the problems. Realistically, that would (more than likely) have to be either a bug in the code of: (i) your personal workbook; (ii) a spreadsheet you've opened, or (iii) the add-ins. You've ruled out (i) and (ii), and if its working from disabling the add-ins, I think you have your answer. May be worth contacting the company/developers to see if they can fix it before uninstalling excel?

Anyway, hope it works out.