If Excel is not highlighting cells in the formula, enable 'Allow editing directly in cells' and 'Enable fill handle and cell drag-and-drop' in Excel options.

The most basic example of a GETPIVOTDATA formula in Microsoft Excel is when the function is used to retrieve a grand total of ...

Microsoft Excel can’t insert new cells because it would push non-empty cells off the end of the worksheet. These cells might appear empty but have blank values, some formatting, or a formula.

As you can see in the screenshot below, the formula works without these spaces. You can access an Excel workbook and accompanying video below for combining a formula and text in the same cell.