How to Auto Calculate in Excel

Written by Darlene Antonelli, MA

Last Updated: December 4, 2023

By default, Excel will auto calculate any formulas every time you open a worksheet or edit the information in the data set that contains the formula. This wikiHow will show you how you can change the automatic calculator function on and off in Excel.

Steps

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You can either open your document from within Excel by going to File > Open or you can right-click on the file in your file browser, select Open With and Excel.
You'll see this in the editing ribbon above the document space.

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You'll see this under the icon of a calculator in the "Calculation" group.
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Select a calculation rule. You can choose:
- Automatic: the default option that tells Excel to refresh the calculation any time information in the formula's data range is edited.
- Automatic Except for Data Tables: also tells Excel to recalculate any formulas if the data in the formula's cells changes.
- Manual: turns off auto-calculations in Excel so you'll have to calculate manually.^{[1]
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