How to Add Text to a Formula in Microsoft Excel

Updated on:

May 12, 2026

By:

Use this interactive demo to learn how to combine text with a formula in Microsoft Excel.

Quick summary

Adding text to a formula in Microsoft Excel lets you display descriptive labels alongside calculated values in a single cell. You do this by typing your text in quotation marks and joining it to the formula with an ampersand (&) operator directly in the formula bar.

Steps

Open your Microsoft Excel worksheet and select the cell that contains the formula you want to edit.
Click the formula bar in the ribbon section to activate it for editing.
Place your cursor right after the equals (=) sign, type the text you want to add, and enclose it in quotation marks.
Enter an ampersand (&) symbol between the closing quotation mark and the SUM function, then press Enter to run the formula.
The text is now added to your selected formula and will display alongside the calculated result in the worksheet.

📌 Why this matters

Knowing how to add text to a formula in Microsoft Excel is an essential spreadsheet skill that lets users create self-explanatory cells — displaying labels like "Total Sales:" directly next to a calculated value without needing a separate column. This technique uses Excel's ampersand concatenation operator to merge static text strings with dynamic formula results, making reports and dashboards significantly easier to read. It eliminates manual data labeling, reduces errors, and is especially valuable for anyone building financial models, inventory trackers, or automated summaries in Excel.

Your product deserves an interactive demo

Start free

How to Organize Dates by Week in Excel

How to Make Cells Fit Text Microsoft Excel

How to Make a Bar Graph in Microsoft Excel