How to use the Excel INFO function

Summary

The Excel INFO function returns information about the current environment, including platform, Excel version, number of worksheets in a workbook, and so on. To use the INFO function, supply the type of information you want as text. There are seven types of information available, summarized in the table below.

Purpose

Get information about current environment

Return value

The information requested

Syntax

=INFO (type_text)

Arguments

type_text - The information type to return as text.

Version

Excel 2003

Usage notes

The INFO function can retrieve information about the current environment, including the operating system, the operating system version, Excel version, and so on. INFO takes one argument, type_text, which is a text value indicating the type of information to be returned.

Examples

To use the INFO function, supply the type of information you want as text. For example, to retrieve the operating system, use "system":

=INFO("system") // returns "pcdos" or "mac"

To request Excel release information, use "release":

=INFO("release") // returns string like "16.0"

There are seven types of information you can request, summarized in the table below:

Type	Information
directory	Path of the current directory or folder
numfile	Number of active worksheets in open workbooks
origin	First visible cell at upper left
osversion	Operating system version
recalc	Recalculation mode
release	Excel version
system	Operating system name

Note: INFO is a volatile function and will update each time a change is made to the worksheet. This can cause performance problems in larger or more complicated workbooks.

Related functions

Excel CELL Function

The Excel CELL function returns information about a cell in a worksheet. The type of information to be returned is specified as info_type. CELL can get things like address and filename, as well as detailed info about the formatting used...