Check an Excel model for errors

Updated: October 20, 2026

A model can look right and still be wrong. A growth rate typed into one formula, a reference to a deleted row, one formula in a row that differs from the rest: these are the errors that reach a board pack, because the numbers still look plausible.

SheetTrack's Analyze reads every formula in the workbook and checks it for problems like these. Each finding names its cell, and choosing it takes you there. This page lists what Analyze checks, how to read the results, and what no automated check can judge for you.

How Analyze works

1. In Excel, open SheetTrack from the Home tab, go to Analyze and choose Check Workbook.
2. SheetTrack checks the workbook inside the add-in, on your computer. Its content is not sent anywhere.
3. The findings appear in the pane, grouped by how much they matter. Choose one to jump to its cell.

Analyze never changes your workbook, and it works without signing in. One analysis handles up to 100,000 cells.

What Analyze checks

The groups below are the ones the pane uses. Some findings are notes rather than warnings: they appear when you set the filter to All.

Critical errors

• Broken Link: a formula that contains #REF!, or refers to a sheet that no longer exists.
• Circular Reference: cells that depend on each other in a loop, reported once per loop with its cells listed. A loop that exists only through an IF or CHOOSE branch is a warning. With iterative calculation on, a loop is a note: a model set to iterate uses its loops on purpose, so check that the result settles. Both are listed under Accuracy Risk.

Accuracy risks

• Hardcoded Number: a number typed inside a formula, such as =C8*1.05, instead of a reference to an input cell. Unit constants are ignored: 0, 1, -1, 4, 7, 12, 24, 52, 60, 100, 365, 1,000 and 1,000,000, tiny tolerances such as 0.0001, and structural arguments like a VLOOKUP column number. Notes rather than warnings: whole numbers from 2 to 10, which are usually a count of periods, an option code or a square; a power of 0.5, which is a square root; and a large round number such as 100,000 that an IF gives when a result cannot be calculated, such as coverage with no interest to divide by.
• Inconsistent Formula: a formula that differs from its neighbors in a row or column, the same change made in two places in a row, or a row whose reference to another sheet breaks the pattern of the rows around it. When the difference is in the cells it reads, the finding names them: a total that leaves out a line says which, even when its neighbors take the line in through a subtotal. A formula that differs across its row but matches the formulas above and below it, as a table's columns do, is a note.
• Formula Typed Over: a typed number that interrupts a run of formulas, where the formula was probably replaced by its value; also two typed numbers side by side, and a typed number in place of a row's last formula.
• Formula Risk: formulas that can give a wrong answer without showing an error:
  • division by a literal zero;
  • VLOOKUP, HLOOKUP or MATCH without a match type, which makes an approximate match by default, and approximate lookups over values that are out of order. A lookup into a column of numbers in ascending order, such as rating brackets, is a note, because an approximate match is the point there;
  • IFERROR or IFNA around something that always fails, and error values typed into a formula;
  • a saved result that does not match the formula's inputs, which can mean the workbook was not recalculated;
  • a defined name whose definition contains an error;
  • a SEQUENCE formula whose results are blocked by other cells (#SPILL!).
• Data Issue: data that will skew totals and lookups:
  • cells, or saved formula results, that are Excel errors such as #DIV/0! or #N/A. An error typed or pasted into a cell is a note when no formula showing an error reads it;
  • numbers, percentages or dates stored as text in a column of numbers or dates, and invalid dates;
  • a negative value in a quantity, hours or count column that is otherwise not negative;
  • a repeated value in an ID column that is meant to be unique (the first column of a table whose IDs are nearly all different, or one headed unique), and IDs that differ only by hidden spaces;
  • the workbook's own check cells, such as a "Check" or "Balanced" column, showing FALSE or "fail".
• Complex Formula (a note): a formula over 200 characters long, nested more than five levels deep, or otherwise hard to follow.

Also reported as notes: links to other workbooks, whole-column references such as A:A, manual calculation mode, error masking such as IFERROR(x,"") that hides every kind of error, and defined names that nothing uses.

Performance

• Performance Review: volatile functions, which recalculate after every change (NOW, TODAY, RAND, RANDBETWEEN, RANDARRAY, OFFSET and INDIRECT), used directly or through a defined name; and SUMPRODUCT, FILTER or MMULT over whole columns.

Readability

• Unclear Naming: sheets still called Sheet1, Sheet2 or Sheet3, sheet names that start with a lowercase letter, defined names that contain #REF!, and, with the Financial model setting, numbers on input or assumption sheets that have no defined name.
• Layout Issue: no sheet for inputs or assumptions (with the Financial model and Strict audit settings), more than 50 sheets, or Inputs, Calculations and Outputs sheets out of order.

How strict the checks are

Settings → General → Check depth chooses how strict Analyze is:

• Financial model (the default): every check. Hardcoded numbers are warnings, and it expects an inputs sheet with named input cells.
• Strict audit: every finding counts as an error, and it expects an inputs sheet.
• Advisory: most findings become notes. Inconsistent formulas, circular references, broken links and data issues keep their usual weight.
• Core checks: only inconsistent formulas, circular references, broken links, hardcoded numbers and data issues.

The other three depths also add a note, Unreferenced Input, under its own group, Unused Inputs: a typed number that no formula in the workbook reads, such as an assumption nothing uses.

How to read the results

• The summary at the top counts the items to review: errors and warnings, with a repeated pattern counted once. Typed-over or inconsistent formulas, broken references and the Excel errors that start a chain are listed first.
• Findings are grouped as Critical Error, Accuracy Risk, Unused Inputs, Performance and Readability. When a hardcoded number, a lookup without a match type or another advisory finding repeats in three or more cells of a sheet with the same formula pattern, it is shown as one card that you can expand.
• Each finding names its cell. Many include a suggested action.
• The coverage line says how many formulas were checked, and a "Not checked" line names what a check from Excel leaves out: cell comments, data validation, merged ranges and protection. If it says some checks were unavailable, for example because calculation is manual, treat the result as partial, not as a clean pass.

What automated checks cannot tell you

Checks find mechanical errors. They cannot tell whether the model's logic is right. When you review a model, also check:

• Assumptions: are the inputs sourced, dated and reasonable?
• Signs and units: are costs negative where they should be, and are thousands, millions and percentages used consistently?
• Totals: do subtotals add up, does the balance sheet balance, and does cash reconcile?
• Time periods: do the columns line up with the same periods on every sheet?
• Movements: compare key outputs with the last version. A big swing needs a reason, and SheetTrack's list of changes shows which inputs moved. See Excel version control.

Questions

Does Analyze change my workbook?

No. Analyze only reads the workbook. In SheetTrack, only going back to an earlier version changes a workbook, and only after you confirm.

Is my workbook stored anywhere?

No. The check runs inside the add-in, on your computer, and the workbook's content is not sent anywhere. No sign-in is needed. The privacy policy has the details.

How large a workbook can it check?

One analysis handles up to 100,000 cells. For a larger workbook, analyze a copy with less data.

Which versions of Excel does it support?

Excel on Windows and the web (Excel API 1.9 or later); on the web, current Edge, Chrome or Firefox. Excel for Mac and Safari once they have been tested. Not Excel on iPad.

What does it cost?

SheetTrack is free, with no ads. It is coming soon to Microsoft AppSource. Until then, try Analyze in the demo on the home page.