Formula-referenced cell highlighting

Question

Level 1

40 points

Formula-referenced cell highlighting

I have been messing around with Numbers a little lately, to see how it might compare to excel in my work, which includes using formulas on various ranges of data. In my Numbers experimentation, I discovered quite possibly the most convenient (for me, anyway) feature: when you select a cell which contains a formula, the cells that formula references are automatically highlighted. This makes it super easy for me to double check that I am referencing the right group of cells.

Now my question (more of an excel question, unfortunately). Excel does this (sort of) as well, but only when you double click on the formula-containing cell (and when editing the formula). Is there a way that any of you excel-pages users know of to enable this Pages style highlighting in excel? To clarify, I want Excel to highlight the cells reference by a formula by just selecting a cell with a formula, not having to actually edit the cell.

Possible/Impossible?
What might this feature even be called, so I might be able to better look for other information?

(Using Excel 2004 and/or 2008)

Anyone who can help me figure this out is entitled to HUGE question answered points!

MBP 15, Mac OS X (10.5.5), 2GB, 2.5 GHz

Posted on Sep 23, 2008 12:14 AM

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Answer 1

KOENIG Yvan

Level 8

41,819 points

Sep 23, 2008 2:04 AM in response to Migo

This forum is dedicated to Numbers, not to Excel.
Please ask your question to an Excel dedicated forum !

Yvan KOENIG (from FRANCE mardi 23 septembre 2008 11:04:25)

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Answer 2

Ric Donato

Level 4

1,129 points

Sep 23, 2008 5:34 PM in response to Migo

Hi Migo,
Yvan is quite correct you should ask Excel questions in a Excel forum.

That being said, in MS Office 2004, Excel: click the cell with the formula then Tools > Auditing, you'll see:
Trace Precedents
Trace Dependents
Trace Error
Remove All Arrows
Show Auditing Toolbar.

Choose the one applicable to your formula, in this case "Trace Precedents", you'll now see arrows related to the cell in question—this is similar to Numbers.

Again, any MS Office questions should be directed to the MS Office forums. They don't answer iWork questions.

Welcome to Numbers discussions, have fun here.

Cordially,
RicD

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Answer 3

Migo Author

Level 1

40 points

Sep 24, 2008 12:40 PM in response to Ric Donato

Thanks for the response, the auditing functions are close, but not exactly what I was looking for. Helpful though.

I know this is more of an excel question, but I would guess a lot of numbers users are either current or former excel users as well, and would have a better idea as to what I was talking about. Also, mac folk are just way cooler than ms folk, so I was hoping I could get an answer here before venturing out into the world of MS support.

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