The Excel INFO Function

Function Description

The Excel Info function returns a text string containing information about the current operating environment.

The syntax of the function is:

INFO( type_text )

Where the type_text argument is a text string that specifies the type of information to be returned.

Possible values for the type_text argument are listed in the table below:

type_text Information Returned
"directory" Path of the current directory
"numfile" The number of active worksheets in all currently open Excel Workbooks
"origin" Returns the top left cell reference of the current worksheet (generally A1) and the top left cell that is currently visible in the scrolled area of the current worksheet.
"osversion" Current operating system version
"recalc" Current recalculation mode (either "Automatic" or "Manual")
"release" Current version of Microsoft Excel
"system" Current operating environment ("mac" = Macintosh or "pcdos" = Windows)


Info Function Examples

The following spreadsheet contains five examples of the Excel Info function.

Note that the examples were run on a Windows operating system. The Info function may return different results on other operating systems.

 Formulas:
  A
1 =INFO( "directory" )
2 =INFO( "origin" )
3 =INFO( "osversion" )
4 =INFO( "recalc" )
5 =INFO( "system" )
 Results:
  A
1 C:\Users\John\Documents\
2 $A:$A$1
3 Windows (32-bit) NT 6.01
4 Automatic
5 pcdos

For further details and examples of the Excel Info function, see the Microsoft Office website.


Info Function Errors

If you get an error from the Excel Info function this is likely to be one of the following:

Common Errors
#N/A! - Occurs if the type_text argument is "memavail" or "memused" (used in old versions of Excel, but no longer supported).
#VALUE! - Occurs if the type_text argument is any other invalid value.