Jan 15 2020 08:41 AM
Hi,
Using Office 365 here (installed on PC).
Entering =CONCAT(G2," ",H2) to join the two text values in these cells and when clicking enter the formula appears in the cell, not a string of the two words in the cells I want to combine.
Also tried =G2&," ",&H2, and showing formula in cell.
Anyone else experiencing this?
Thank you.
Jan 15 2020 09:20 AM
Not sure what you're experiencing on your side but this is what I get:
You don't need the commas when using & to join.
Jan 15 2020 10:47 AM
Apr 05 2020 11:28 AM - edited Apr 05 2020 11:34 AM
@AdiAtNoname Same problem here using Excel 2016. I tried to combine two columns of data into one using the =A2&" "&B2 formula example, and also tried =concat(A2," ",B2) and neither are working. When I hit enter all it shows is the formula I entered. I have also check to make sure the Show Formulas button is not selected.
Apr 05 2020 11:41 AM
Another variant if your cell is formatted as text. Check by Ctrl+1.
Apr 05 2020 11:47 AM
@Sergei Baklan All data in both columns are formatted as text. But here's what just happened. I tried the formula in a blank worksheet and it worked. Then when I went back to my data worksheet to try again, it finally worked. I entered the same formula again and viola, it worked. I don't know why this was the case. I had originally typed in the cell references instead of selecting them by clicking on them. Is this possibly the trick??
Regardless, my problem is solved.
This might help someone else though??
Apr 05 2020 12:14 PM
The problem is not with the referenced cells being formatted as text; it is likely that the formula cell was accidentally formatted as text which will block any formula you may enter into that cell from working.
Apr 05 2020 12:17 PM
@Peter Bartholomew I did check that when I was trying to troubleshoot and I believe it was set as General. So how should the formula cell be formatted?
Apr 05 2020 12:49 PM
General should be fine. There is a catch in that reinstating General in place of Text doesn't automatically sort the problem. The formula also has to be committed with Enter as if it were newly input.
Oct 21 2021 05:08 PM
@Peter Bartholomew THANK YOU. This is exactly the problem I was having and I can't believe it took more than an hour to finally have someone mention this may be the issue. You sir, are a savior.
Jan 23 2022 02:22 PM
I have typed in the formula just as shown - I tried this using ampersand and the concat function. And the result is not the function but the formula I typed in.
I successfully completed this task on another work sheet in the same document. Only difference is I was combining two text cells and not three.
Very frustrating.
Help
Jan 23 2022 02:30 PM
As mentioned in other replies in this discussion:
Jan 24 2022 07:58 AM
@tencat951- take a look at @Hans Vogelaar response
@Hans Vogelaar wrote:As mentioned in other replies in this discussion:
- Make sure that the cell with the formula is not formatted as Text.
- Make sure that the Show Formulas button in the Formula Auditing group of the Formulas tab of the ribbon is not highlighted.