INFO function in Excel

The INFO function in Excel returns information about the current operating environment.  In total, there are seven pieces of information available:

• File path of the current folder
• Number of worksheets in open workbooks
• Cell reference to the top-left visible cell of the window
• Operating system version
• Excel’s calculation mode
• Excel version
• Type of operating system (e.g., PC or Mac)

Table of Contents

• The arguments of the INFO function
• Argument options
• Basic usage
• Examples of using the INFO function
• Display system information
• Display warning messages
• Insert line breaks with CHAR function
• Conclusion

The arguments of the INFO function

The INFO function in Excel is easy to understand, as it only takes a single argument and returns a single piece of information.

=INFO(type_text)

• type_text: a text value indicating which system information to be returned.

Argument options

The type_text can be any of the following:

“directory”
Folder path of the current default directory or folder

“numfile”
Total number of worksheets across all open workbooks

“origin”
Returns the cell reference of the top-left cell within the view at the time of the last calculation.

Every result is prefixed with “$A:”.  This is intended to be compatible with Lotus 1-2-3, so it does not serve many purposes these days.

The value returned depends on the current cell referencing style.  If the top-left cell in the view were C2, the value returned would be:

• A1 Style = $A:$C$2
• R1C1 Style = $A:R2C3

“osversion”
Operating system

“recalc”
Calculation mode as either “Automatic” or “Manual”

“release”
Microsoft Excel version

“system”
Name of the operating environment:

• Macintosh = “mac”
• Windows = “pcdos”

Basic usage

The screenshot below is a simple example showing the use of “RELEASE” to return the Excel version number.

The formula in cell C2 is:

=INFO("RELEASE")

As I am using Excel 365, the result is 16.0.  Check out the Notes section below to understand the version numbers.

Examples of using the INFO function

In this section, we’ll look at some practical examples of using the INFO function.

Display system information

The screenshot below shows all seven possible arguments and the results which are achieved on my PC.  Depending on your IT environment, your results will vary.

Display warning messages

This example demonstrates how to use the INFO function to display a warning message when Excel is in manual calculation mode.

The formula in cell C19 is:

=IF(INFO("RECALC")="Manual","WARNING: Manual calculation mode has been set","")

The formula will trigger the warning message only if the calculation mode is set to Manual at the time of the last recalculation.

Insert line breaks with CHAR function

A common compatibility issue between Windows and Mac is that the line break character, as it is different between the two systems.

• Windows – CHAR(10) is a line break
• Mac – CHAR(13) is a line break

In this example, we can see the INFO function’s SYSTEM argument being used to test for the operating system, so that we can apply the correct CHAR value for the line break.  If the operating system is a Mac, it uses CHAR(13), else it uses CHAR(10).

The formula in cell C24 is:

="Insert a line break" &
IF(INFO("SYSTEM")="mac",CHAR(13),CHAR(10)) &
"in a text string."

Conclusion

In this post, we’ve seen how to use the INFO function in Excel. While many of the arguments have limited uses in everyday work, there are some strong use cases, such as:

• Selecting the optional solution for each operating system
• Displaying warning messages for calculation modes or mac users

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