There's a quiet desperation in this post that anyone who's ever fought a spreadsheet knows intimately. The user has done everything right: asked the AIs, scoured the internet, tried every combination short of interpretive dance. And still, the shortcut to show formulas remains elusive. The real problem isn't the user's effort. It's that the advice they're getting is generic, while their setup is specific: a German keyboard, a Mac, and Excel. That combination turns a simple question into a labyrinth where the exit sign is written in a language nobody thought to translate.
The core issue here isn't a lack of intelligence or even a lack of trying. It's that most shortcut guides assume a universal keyboard layout and a single operating system. The moment you introduce a non-US layout or a Mac, the standard answers stop applying. The user even found a suggested shortcut involving Control and the caret key, but it didn't work. That's not a failure on their part. It's a failure of the resources they were handed. When the answer depends on your keyboard's physical layout, the shortcut isn't a shortcut anymore. It's a scavenger hunt.
What this means for you, if you're in a similar bind, is that persistence alone won't cut it. You need a method, not just a search. Start by checking Excel's own menu system on your Mac. Look under the Formulas tab or the View menu, where the "Show Formulas" toggle often lives. On a Mac, the shortcut is typically Control plus the grave accent key, which sits right next to the number 1. But on a German keyboard, that key might produce a caret or another symbol, and the system might interpret it differently. The solution isn't to try harder. It's to remap your approach: use the menu bar to find the command, then look at what keyboard shortcut it actually displays for your specific setup. That's the shortcut that will work, not the one from a forum post written for a US keyboard.
The deeper lesson here is about context in technology. Tools like Excel are powerful, but their power is wasted when the instructions don't account for the user's reality. This user isn't confused about what they want. They want to see the formulas instead of the results, a basic need for auditing or troubleshooting. The fact that they're stuck says more about the gaps in documentation than it does about their capability. So, if you're in their shoes, stop asking for a universal shortcut. Ask for the path that fits your specific keyboard and OS. Open Excel's preferences, check the keyboard shortcuts section, and reassign the command to something that feels natural. That's not a workaround. That's taking control. And it's the only shortcut that actually matters.