PerfectXL Explore
Finding hidden information in Excel
Excel enables users to hide things, such as rows, columns, formulas, and even whole sheets. This is often done to simplify the “workings” of the model for users that might be less familiar with its structure, or users that simply don’t need to see everything to work with the file. In many cases it’s actually quite a clever solution in which users just see the few cells or sheets that are relevant to them.
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PerfectXL Explore
Risks of hidden information
Issues appear when something stops working. For example, if a user unexpectedly adds a column that they weren’t supposed to, runs into an error, and, in attempt to remedy the situation, accidentally deletes or moves crucial information without knowing what they’ve done! On top of all that, the original creator of the spreadsheet might have left the company with little to no documentation on how this model actually works.
Finding hidden information (even very hidden worksheets)
It’s clear that finding hidden information in the spreadsheet you are working with might be crucial to understand its workings. Our tool PerfectXL Explore visualizes the structure of the model, giving you access to all connections between worksheets and showing you exactly where hidden worksheets are and what they are doing. Our tool even reveals very hidden sheets which are not possible to reveal with standard Excel (without VBA).
In PerfectXL Explore a model looks something like this:
You can also access a list of all worksheets and sort by visibility:
The links on the right (in green) allow you to either unhide and open the worksheet in Excel, or to see all links to that sheet in your model. This allows you to understand how these hidden worksheet are interacting with the rest of your model.
As with most things in Excel, this isn’t some “quick hack”. You’ll still have to roll up your sleeves and get to work, but like most battles, in this case knowing is half the battle!
More articles related to PerfectXL Explore
On this page you will find a step-by-step walkthrough of the PerfectXL Explore Tool. This page will give you information on how you can use explore to gain a better understanding of complex Excel files.
This is the technical page for PerfectXL Explore. Here you will find information like system requirements, release notes, and answers to most questions about our software. If you have more questions please use the form at the bottom of the page.
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Excel enables users to hide things, such as rows, columns, formulas, and even whole sheets. In many cases it’s actually quite a clever solution in which users just see the few cells or sheets that are relevant to them.
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In this article we’ll discuss some good practices that will help you with structuring your Excel files.
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When we read a book or a report or a website, we read from top to bottom and from left to right. Keep this in mind when you create an Excel file. Try your best to follow that structure both within each worksheet and between them. We advise you to distinguish separate input & output sheets as well as sheets for calculations, documentation and dashboards.
Understanding the workings of a spreadsheet is key to correctly interpreting its results. Spreadsheet visualization is an essential feature of PerfectXL Explore. It allows you to create a graphical model of the general flow of information, which also shows of risks, input & output and data & formula flows.
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