When Microsoft Excel is used to construct large and complex spreadsheets containing multiple worksheets, it can become extremely difficult for someone to navigate, let alone track or trace numbers through the spreadsheet with all of the values and formulas contained within it. This is because in a large spreadsheet like a financial model, there can often be hundreds if not thousands of different formula down and across each page including calculations which may contain several links to other sheets within the workbook. The difficulty experienced with navigating through the formulas of large and complex spreadsheets exists even when you were the one who designed and built the spreadsheet. Microsoft Excel does come with some basic functionality to help users navigate through a spreadsheets formulas. Some common methods are: – Utilising the ?Go simulation software To? window [ctrl + G] and typing in cell addresses – Entering edit mode [F2], thus outlining same sheet precedents in different colors – Using formula auditing to draw arrows to precedent or dependent cells and double clicking to move back and forth between same sheet references and the ?Go To? window to move back and forth between off-sheet references. This functionality and all of the inefficiency of double mouse clicks falls well short of the mark for many users who have large complex spreadsheets, such as a financial model with formulas that link to a number of cells or cells much further down/across the sheet or to cells on a variety of other worksheets, or even workbooks. The bottom line is that when it comes to formula navigation the existing functionality of Microsoft Excel is difficult to use, inefficient and lacking in functionality.
