Excel Trick: Calculate Without the Equal Sign!

Reading time: 2 minutes

You can calculate without an equal sign in Excel. The trick is explained in this article.

Calculate Without Equal Sign

People often use calculators next to their computers. It is funny because Excel can do all types of calculations easily.

But one day, an Excel beginner told me he prefers to use a calculator because he doesn’t have to press the equal sign. What this user didn’t know is that it’s possible to calculate in Excel without using the Equal Sign 😀

Let’s see the trick in this article.

Change One Excel Option

To calculate without the Equal Sign, you must check one option in the Excel Option.

Open File>Options>Advanced in Excel.
Scroll down to the end of the options list.
Check Transition formula entry under the Lotus compatibility settings.
And that’s all 😮👍

Option to avoid the equal sign to start a formula in Excel

What Happens Now?

Simply write your calculation in a cell
Excel returns the result
And also, Excel adds the equal sign automatically 😉

Note: This setting is not permanent. You must reactivate it every time you open Excel. It only works for one worksheet.

Calculation without equal for a single worksheet only

This trick is fun, but not professional 😱😱😱 In fact, it will disturb your users rather than help them.

My advice: You can use the trick if you have a long list of calculations to do. But nowadays, this task is pretty rare.