Tracing of Precedents and Dependents

This tool provides an enhanced tracking of precedents and dependents.

Best practice

Activate the Auto Trace mode in the sheetRush ribbon to quickly review the precedents and dependents of different cells in an Excel workbook.

Using Auto Trace Mode

The Auto Trace mode can be activated by clicking the Auto Trace toggle in the sheetRush ribbon. If Auto Trace is active Excel will continously display all precedents and dependents for the currently selected range.

Enabled Auto Trace mode

When the selection is moved around on the worksheet by using the arrow keys or the mouse the displaying of precedents and dependents will always follow the selection. Auto Trace can be used on single cells or even on ranges. Please be aware that displaying the precedents and dependents for multiple cells in Auto Trace mode may be very slow.

Hit the Auto Trace toggle in the ribbon again to disable the Auto Trace mode.

Showing precedents and dependents for multiple cells

The integrated Show precedents and Show dependents functions in Excel only allow the user to show precedents and dependents for a single cell. If precedents and dependents for multiple cells should be shown each cell needs to be selected and the respective button needs to be hit.

smartRush provides an easy way to show precedents and dependents for multiple cells at a single click:

  1. Select the range you want to show precedents/dependents for
  2. Hit one of the blue arrows for precedents or dependents in the ribbon next to the Auto Trace toggle
  3. Precedents and dependents for all cells in the selected range will be shown
  4. Hit the Clear arrows button to remove all arrows

Please note: Showing precedents and dependents for a large amount of cells may take a long time. It is recommended to save the workbook before showing precedents and dependents for a large amount of cells (eg several thousand cells)

Showing multiple dependents at once