Feature
Clean up your defined names before they cause silent errors
Broken or unused named ranges accumulate silently over a model's lifetime and can cause
What Formula Audit XL does
Ctrl+Shift+J audits every defined name in the workbook and flags broken, error, and unused names, with direct navigation and in-list deletion.
The problem with doing this in native Excel
- Excel's Name Manager shows all names but does not flag which ones are broken or unused
- There is no built-in filter to find only the problematic names in a long list
- Deleting names one by one in the Name Manager is slow and offers no status context
How Formula Audit XL does it
- 1 Press Ctrl+Shift+J. Open the Named Ranges auditor from any sheet. It scans every defined name in the workbook instantly.
- 2 Review flagged names. Each name appears with a status icon (broken, error, or unused) alongside its scope and refers-to value. Filter the list to see only the problem cases.
- 3 Navigate and clean up. Click a name to jump to its range in the sheet. Select obsolete names and delete them directly from the auditor panel without opening the Name Manager.
Who needs this most
- Analysts inheriting large models with legacy names
- Finance teams preparing models for external distribution
- Auditors verifying formula references are well-defined
- Builders refactoring a model after structural changes
Named Ranges (Ctrl+Shift+J) gives you a status-aware view of every defined name in the workbook. Excel’s own Name Manager shows all names without flagging which are broken or unused. This panel surfaces the problem cases immediately, so you can triage without scrolling through an undifferentiated list.
Cleanup is done in-panel: navigate to a range, verify it, and delete redundant names without switching contexts.
Frequently asked questions
What counts as a broken named range?
Any name whose refers-to value resolves to a
What counts as an unused named range?
A name that is defined in the workbook but is not referenced by any formula or cell. These add noise and can cause confusion during model reviews.
Can I delete names directly from the panel?
Yes. Select one or more names in the list and delete them without opening Excel's Name Manager.
Does it work with workbook-scoped and sheet-scoped names?
Yes. Both workbook-level and sheet-level defined names are shown, with their scope clearly indicated.
Stop eyeballing models. Start auditing them.
For Microsoft Excel on Windows: 2016, 2019, 2021 & 365 · No data leaves your machine