09/11/2025
11 am PT / 12 pm MT / 1 pm CT / 2 pm ET
*approximate length: 45 minutes to 1 hour
Presenter: David Ringstrom, CPA
In this presentation author and Excel expert David Ringstrom, CPA, shares techniques you can use to verify the integrity of even the most complicated Excel workbooks. Techniques covered include the Navigation task pane in Excel for Microsoft 365, as well as features available in all versions of Excel, such as Watch Window, Find Formulas, Trace Precedents, and the Evaluate Formula feature. You'll also see how to track down circular references and use the FORMULATEXT function to display formulas in any part of a worksheet.
David is the author of “Microsoft Excel 365 for Dummies”, “Exploring Microsoft Excel’s Hidden Treasures”, and has written or co-authored six other books. He demonstrates every technique at least twice: first, on a PowerPoint slide with numbered steps, and second, in the subscription-based Excel for Microsoft 365. David draws your attention to any differences in Excel 2021, 2019 or 2016 during the presentation and in his detailed handouts. The handouts include an Excel workbook with most of the examples he uses during his demonstrations.
Excel for Microsoft 365 is a subscription-based product that receives periodic feature updates. Conversely, perpetually licensed versions have year numbers in their names and do not receive any feature updates.
Who should attend: Professionals seeking to verify the integrity of Excel spreadsheets more effectively.
Topics typically covered:
- Learning the nuances of circular references in Excel.
- Using the Watch Window to easily monitor the ramifications of even minor changes to your workbooks.
- Bringing Excel’s green error-checking prompts under control by managing the underlying rules.
- Most features and functions work in Excel for Mac as well but expect differences.
- Determining at a glance whether a spreadsheet contains links to other workbooks.
- Auditing portions of a formula by using the F9 key to temporarily convert part of a formula to a value.
- Stepping through formulas in slow motion with the Evaluate Formulas feature.
- Utilizing the FORMULATEXT function to display a formula from one cell in another cell.
- Navigating through workbooks and identifying non-blank worksheet cells with the Navigation task pane in Microsoft 365.
- Using the Workbook Statistics feature to determine the number of worksheets, formulas, cells with data, and more in a given workbook.
- Determining whether it’s safe to edit or delete a cell by way of the Trace Dependents feature.
- Utilizing the Error Checking command to locate cells that contain errors within a worksheet.
Learning objectives:
- Recall the location of the command that allows you to determine categorically if a workbook contains links or not.
- State which menu the Trace Dependents command appears on in Excel.
- State what the FORMULATEXT function returns if the cell being referenced does not contain a formula.
Level: Basic
David H. Ringstrom, CPA, is an author and nationally recognized instructor who teaches scores of webinars each year. His Excel courses are based on 25 years of consulting and teaching experience. David’s mantra is “Either you work Excel, or it works you,” so he focuses on what he sees users don’t, but should, know about Microsoft Excel. His goal is to empower you to use Excel more effectively.