@@ -, +, @@ 
 whether formulas are validated during XSSFCell.setCellFormula or not
---
 .../org/apache/poi/xssf/usermodel/XSSFCell.java    |  8 +++++---
 .../apache/poi/xssf/usermodel/XSSFWorkbook.java    | 24 ++++++++++++++++++++++
 2 files changed, 29 insertions(+), 3 deletions(-)
--- a/src/ooxml/java/org/apache/poi/xssf/usermodel/XSSFCell.java	
+++ a/src/ooxml/java/org/apache/poi/xssf/usermodel/XSSFCell.java	
@@ -561,9 +561,11 @@ public final class XSSFCell implements Cell {
             return;
         }
 
-        XSSFEvaluationWorkbook fpb = XSSFEvaluationWorkbook.create(wb);
-        //validate through the FormulaParser
-        FormulaParser.parse(formula, fpb, formulaType, wb.getSheetIndex(getSheet()), getRowIndex());
+        if(wb.getCellFormulaValidation()) {
+            XSSFEvaluationWorkbook fpb = XSSFEvaluationWorkbook.create(wb);
+            //validate through the FormulaParser
+            FormulaParser.parse(formula, fpb, formulaType, wb.getSheetIndex(getSheet()), getRowIndex());
+        }
 
         CTCellFormula f = CTCellFormula.Factory.newInstance();
         f.setStringValue(formula);
--- a/src/ooxml/java/org/apache/poi/xssf/usermodel/XSSFWorkbook.java	
+++ a/src/ooxml/java/org/apache/poi/xssf/usermodel/XSSFWorkbook.java	
@@ -209,6 +209,11 @@ public class XSSFWorkbook extends POIXMLDocument implements Workbook {
     private MissingCellPolicy _missingCellPolicy = MissingCellPolicy.RETURN_NULL_AND_BLANK;
 
     /**
+     * Whether a call to {@link XSSFCell#setCellFormula(String)} will validate the formula or not.
+     */
+    private boolean cellFormulaValidation = true;
+
+    /**
      * array of pictures for this workbook
      */
     private List<XSSFPictureData> pictures;
@@ -2470,4 +2475,23 @@ public class XSSFWorkbook extends POIXMLDocument implements Workbook {
 
         return oleId;
     }
+
+    /**
+     * Whether a call to {@link XSSFCell#setCellFormula(String)} will validate the formula or not.
+     *
+     * @param value true if the application will validate the formula is correct
+     * @since 3.17
+     */
+    public void setCellFormulaValidation(final boolean value) {
+        this.cellFormulaValidation = value;
+    }
+
+    /**
+     * Whether a call to {@link XSSFCell#setCellFormula(String)} will validate the formula or not.
+     *
+     * @since 3.17
+     */
+    public boolean getCellFormulaValidation() {
+        return this.cellFormulaValidation;
+    }
 }
--