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Yesterday in the marathon 30 Excel functions in 30 days we were cleaning up extra spaces using the function TRIM (CLIMATE) and also made sure that it will not replace calorie control in our menu.
The fourth day of the marathon we will devote to the study of the function INFO (INFORM). Excel Help warns us to be careful with this function, otherwise you can give out personal information to other users!
So let’s take a look at the function reference INFO (INFORM) and consider a few examples. If you have more information about this feature or other use cases, please share them in the comments. And keep your secrets!
Function 04: INFO
Function INFO (INFORM) shows information about the current operating environment.
How can the INFO function be used?
Function INFO (INFORM) can show the following information about Excel:
- Microsoft Excel version.
- The number of active Excel sheets.
- The current calculation method.
In previous versions of Excel, you could get information about memory resources, but these argument types are no longer supported.
Syntax INFO (INFORM)
Function INFO (INFORM) has the following syntax:
INFO(type_text)
ИНФОРМ(тип_информации)
Type_text (information_type) is an argument that specifies what information to retrieve. The following values can be used as an argument:
- directory (DIRECTORY) – current directory or folder.
- nymphs (NUM FILES) – the number of active sheets.
- origin (SOURCE) is an absolute cell reference in the upper left corner of the screen.
- osversion (VERSIONOS) – version of the operating system.
- recalc (RECALCULATE) – current recalculation method: “Automatically” or “Manually”.
- release (VERSION) – Microsoft Excel version.
- system (SYSTEM) – the name of the operating system: “pcdos” or “mac”.
Traps INFO (INFORM)
Microsoft Excel Help has a warning that the function INFO (INFORM) should be used with caution as it may reveal sensitive information to other users. You don’t want to give other users the full path to your book file, do you? So when sending an Excel file to someone, make sure you delete any data you don’t want to share.
Example 1: Microsoft Excel version
Using the function INFO (INFORM) with argument release (VERSION) You can get Excel version information. The result is in text format, not numeric. The screenshot shown below is taken in Excel 2010, so the result will be 14.0.
=INFO("release")
=ИНФОРМ("ВЕРСИЯ")
You can use the result to display a message indicating the version of Excel.
=IF(C2+0<14,"Пора обновляться","Последняя версия")
=ЕСЛИ(C2+0<14;"Пора обновляться";"Последняя версия")
Example 2: Number of Active Sheets
Using argument nymphs (NUMFILE) function INFO (INFORM) can show the number of active sheets in all open Excel workbooks. This number includes hidden sheets, sheets in hidden workbooks, and sheets in add-ons.
In the following example, an Excel workbook with five sheets is opened and a plug-in containing two sheets is running. The total number of sheets returned by the function INFO (INFORM), will be equal to seven.
=INFO("numfile")
=ИНФОРМ("ЧИСЛОФАЙЛОВ")
Example 3: Current recalculation method
Instead of entering an argument type_text (information_type) for the function INFO (INFO) You can refer to a cell that contains one of the valid argument values. In the following example, cell B3 contains a drop down list and the function INFO (INFORM) refers to this cell.
=INFO(B3)
=ИНФОРМ(B3)
When the list is selected recalc (RECALCULATE), the result indicates that the current recalculation method is Automatically.
